Ed Sheeran wins ‘Let’s Get It On’ plagiarism case

Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

New York: Ed Sheeran has won a lawsuit that saw him accused of plagiarising Marvin Gaye’s classic song Let’s Get It On for his Grammy Award-winning single Thinking Out Loud.

After three hours of deliberations, a jury on Thursday (US time) found in favour of Sheeran, who had hinted in federal court earlier this week that he might quit music if he was found guilty of ripping off parts of Gaye’s song.

Ed Sheeran arrives at New York Federal Court on Thursday.Credit: AP

“I am obviously happy with the outcome of this case, and it looks like I’m not going to have to retire from my day job after all – but at the same time, I’m unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all,” Sheeran said outside the Manhattan court after the verdict.

“If the jury had decided in this matter the other way, we might as well say goodbye to the creative freedom of songwriters. We need to be able to write our original music and engage in independent creation without worrying at every step of the way that such creativity will be wrongly called into question.”

Sheeran had been sued by the heirs of Ed Townsend, the songwriter who composed the anthem with Gaye. They have alleged that Sheeran’s 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud copied harmonic progressions, melodies and rhythmic elements from Let’s Get It On without permission.

They had sought $US100 million ($149 million) in restitution and had been closely watched by the global music industry.

The British pop star had vehemently denied the allegations and had even played his guitar in court in an effort to prove his point.

His legal team had argued that while the elements used in both songs are common in pop music, the melodies were nonetheless different.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.

Most Viewed in Culture

Source: Read Full Article