Ed Sheeran wins copyright infringement lawsuit involving Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On'
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A jury has ruled that Ed Sheeran did not steal components of Marvin Gaye's classic "Let's Get It On" when he wrote his 2014 hit "Thinking Out Loud."
The verdict came in a Manhattan court Thursday after a two-week copyright infringement trial between the English singer-songwriter and the estate of the late Ed Townsend, who cowrote the 1973 track with Gaye.
"I am obviously very happy with the outcome of the case," Sheeran said in a statement outside the courthouse, reports The New York Times. "At the same time, I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all."
An attorney for Sheeran did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
Sheeran called the copyright infringement allegations "insulting" on the stand Monday and even seemed to threaten to quit the music industry if he were to lose the trial. Both he and and "Thinking Out Loud" cowriter Amy Wage testified that the chords in question are a "common progression" used in several songs.
Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images Ed Sheeran at his copyright infringement trial in New York
The estate of Townsend, however, argued that the track featured "striking similarities" and "overt common elements" to "Let's Get It On," with plaintiff attorney Ben Crump presenting concert footage of Sheeran performing the two songs together and calling it "smoking gun" proof of copyright infringement, reports the Associated Press.
Townsend's daughter Kathryn Townsend Griffin also testified, stating that although Sheeran is "a great artist with a great future" and she had hoped the lawsuit filed in 2017 would not result in a trial, she had to "protect my father's legacy."
"Thinking Out Loud" earned Sheeran his first Grammy. The singer won a separate copyright infringement lawsuit in the U.K. last year over his 2017 song "Shape of You." Following that victory, he slammed the "damaging" uptick in copyright suits against mainstream artists.
"I'm not an entity, I'm not a corporation — I'm a human being," Sheeran said at the time. "I'm a father, I'm a husband, I'm a son. Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience, and I hope that this ruling, it means in the future, baseless claims like this can be avoided."
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