The British pop sensation Ed Sheeran has expressed excitement and relief after a US jury determined that he did not plagiarize Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On when writing his mega-hit Thinking Out Loud, calling the judgment a victory for creative freedom.
On Thursday, the English singer hugged his colleagues inside a Manhattan courtroom after jurors concluded that he had "independently" created the 2014 Grammy-winning tune.
The heirs of Gaye co-writer Ed Townsend launched the carefully watched lawsuit in 2017, saying that Thinking Out Loud duplicated the "heart" of Gaye's song, including its melody, harmony, and rhythm. The heirs demanded a cut of the proceeds from Sheeran's hit.
Outside of court, the singer-songwriter told reporters that being accused of copying someone else's work had been "devastating," and that he was "very happy" with the verdict.
Ed Sheran said that If the jury had decided this matter differently, they might as well say goodbye to songwriters' creative freedom.
Insiders in the industry followed the civil lawsuit because they were concerned it would open the door to future litigation and stifle composers' creativity.
Sheeran's second copyright case in a year. In April 2022, he won a dispute in London over his song Shape Of You, a powerful smash in 2017, claiming that the lawsuit was an example of excessive copyright litigation.
In recent years, there have been several significant music copyright cases.
One of the most prominent occurred in 2015 when members of Gaye's family successfully sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over similarities between their songs Blurred Lines and Gaye's Got to Give It Up.
