Ed Sheeran Shows What He Played in Court To Win His Case #shorts

Ed Sheeran has defeated a copyright infringement lawsuit involving his Grammy-winning song "Thinking Out Loud" and the Marvin Gaye classic "Let's Get It On."

A Manhattan jury has found the musician did not engage in willful copyright infringement following a trial that saw Sheeran playing guitar and singing in court.

The jury reached its decision after roughly three hours of deliberations.

Sheeran, seated at the defense table in a suit and tie between his lawyers, hugged his attorneys when the verdict was read.

"I'm obviously very happy with the outcome of the case. And it looks like I'm not having to retire from my day job after all," Sheeran told reporters outside the courthouse. "But at the same time, I'm unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all."

The plaintiffs declined to make a statement outside the courthouse following the verdict.

Sheeran had been accused of copying the sheet music for "Let's Get It On" by the family of the song's late co-writer, Ed Townsend.

During opening arguments in Manhattan federal court, renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the plaintiffs, said the case is about "giving credit where credit is due."

The lawsuit claims that Sheeran took the rhythm, chord progression and other elements for his 2014 song "Thinking Out Loud" without permission from the 1973 soul classic "Let's Get It On," which Crump said has become a "cornerstone" in the American experience.

Crump said Sheeran "recognized the magic of 'Let's Get It On'" and infringed on its copyright for the tune that won him his first Grammy.

The defense, meanwhile, said Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge "independently created" the song "Thinking Out Loud."

"Their song was born from an emotional conversation," Sheeran's attorney, Ilene Farkas, said. "It was their original creation."

Sheeran took the stand throughout the trial, at times singing and playing guitar during his testimony.

At one point, the musician performed a mash-up on guitar of his songs and Marvin Gaye's as he tried to demonstrate how common the four-chord progression was for his hit "Thinking Out Loud."

Sheeran also performed some of "Thinking Out Loud" when he discussed its creation process with Wadge.

He testified his producers came to refer to "Thinking Out Loud" as Sheeran's Van Morrison tune because of the similarities and influence Sheeran said the Northern Irish singer provided.

During her closing argument, Farkas said the case never should have been brought and that Sheeran was "unjustly accused" of copying from "Let's Get It On."

"We all benefit from artists being free to create and to build on what came before them," Farkas said, warning the jury that a verdict against Sheeran would mean "creativity will be stifled for fear of being sued."

Crump told jurors that a videotape of Sheeran in concert merging "Thinking Out Loud" with "Let's Get It On" is their "smoking gun" and demonstrates the infringing similarities. The plaintiffs showed a video of Sheeran playing a mashup of the two songs during a concert.

When taking the stand following the viewing, Sheeran told the court, "If I had done what you're accusing me of doing I'd be quite an idiot to stand on stage in front of 25,000 people."

Talking to reporters outside the courthouse Thursday, juror Sophia Neis said the jury "thought long and hard" about the questions they were given.

"We ultimately came to what we thought was the right interpretation of the law that we were given," Neis said.

Townsend's heirs sued Sheeran, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Publishing in 2017.

This isn't the first time either man's music has been the center of a copyright trial. Sheeran won a copyright infringement case last year involving "Shape of You," while Gaye's heirs, who are not involved in this current lawsuit, won a case in 2015 against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams involving "Got to Give it Up."

Video and News Article courtesy via Howard Stern and ABC News.

#edsheeran #musicnews #shortsfeed

[mrbfros]

You can’t pull the wool over his eyes because he is a professional. He knows his craft and he knows he’s right. The peace and gentleness that he has displayed while showing how foolish and ignorant this case is pure class.

[elizabethlinsay]

As a singer, I've heard many, many songs over the long years with similar chord structures and sequences which sound like many other songs but it doesn't mean that they were copied or stolen from other songwriters. He's spot-on.

[ngravatt]

I love he played his guitar in court to prove em wrong. Family/lawyer have to feel stupid when a pro shows em how they are just chasing money

[SuperSavvyTravelersLLC]

By their argument every single 12 bar blues progression after the first one is plagiarism.

[TAYYAB_]

The jury got a free concert of Ed Sheeran live

[carol-annleyden]

Your absolutely right Ed Sheeran! Anyone who knows music knows exactly that. So happy you won your case! ♥️
There really shouldn’t have been a court case against you for that! Crazy!

[MarleysMusic]

He is fucking telling the truth😅I mean most songs have the same shape. We mostly play around 1, 5, 4 or 1, 2, 5, 4.

[tommurrayGTR]

Agreed. You can't copyright a chord sequence. But you should be able to protect your music when it's VERY similar chords, with VERY similar feel, and VERY similar instrumentation. All 3 combined should mean something, but in the eyes of copyright law, melody and lyric is basically the only thing that means anything. Also... his defence here? I mean? who's listening to Still the one and saying "That sounds just like Thinking out loud?... Let's get it on etc"? same chords but completely different songs

[PhilRiley-etfr]

The music 🎵🎶 industry is open for business .this guy is talented.

[CalebDavidWilliams]

So glad he did this breakdown.

There was a time when people played music out of pure joy and weren’t obsessed with ownership. That time seems long gone.

[kimnapier]

I love Ed winning 💟! Rightly so
He fought the good fight and won ❤❤

[guitargirl]

He’s dead on. When you really understand music, all these copyright lawsuits are bogus, unless the sound is extremely specific (like Vanilla Ice and Queen “Under Pressure” - but then he did have to pay for that one…)

[debra]

Using words in this universe no matter how you phrase them, is not illegal otherwise we would all be in court. 😂❤ Ed the words you use to put together the songs you write are absolutely beautiful ❤❤❤❤

[NaamahTherion]

Aww, damn he recites Otis!! Good for him.. Gawds! ❤

[regular-user]

When people have no idea of song creation...

[nickmc]

Most songwriters start songs by ripping off other songs but changing them enough.

[UNCUTVIDZ]

Sounds like he giving props to the hit sequence

[StickA-ydfp]

Every country song is the same. Ask Bo Burnham.

[Robroy]

Yeah; NO, . these examples are not the same chords...(People get ready: [C] [Am] [F] [C]. Have I told you lately: C Em F G. LOOKS LIKE WE MADE IT: G C C9 F Marvin Gaye: "let's get it on" and Ed's "Thinking out Loud" are exactly the same chord structure and medley. you can sing different words over any song; doesn't mean it's the same chords or melody. ( As a singer/Songwriter;/Musician; I can sing Bohemian Rhapsody over the chords of A crazy thing called love: but in reality; the music isn't the same!)And how many lawsuits he's had... Salt & Pepper, Unchained Melody/Perfect....ummm. I loved his first Album that wasn't 4 chords and totally Original.

[jimmybailey]

Iron maiden with their trademark C, D, and E chord progressions/variations