Ed Sheeran wins copyright trial over claim Thinking Out Loud ripped off Martin Gaye

ok.co.uk:

Ed Sheeran has won a US copyright lawsuit which alleged he copied parts of Marvin Gaye’s hit song Let’s Get It On for his own track Thinking Out Loud.The lawsuit was officially filed in 2017 and claimed Ed had ripped off part of the classic Marvin Gaye song.The British musician was taken to court by the family of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic.They claimed that Sheeran’s 2014 song, written with collaborator Amy Wadge, bore “striking similarities” and “overt common elements” to Let’s Get It On.The trail in New York lasted for a week where Ed and the song's co-writer, Amy Wadge, gave evidence including several live singing performances.

The singer explained that he had written the song when he was at home in England and that his grandparents were the inspiration behind the song, as well as a new romance which had just sparked around that time.

Ed’s lawyer, Ilene Farkas, spoke to the jurors and said that the similarities in the two songs are the “basic musical building blocks” that all songwriters use and also “must be free” to use.

Keisha Rice, who represented the family of Ed Townsend said that her clients were specifically not claiming to own musical elements but said that is it "the way in which these common elements were uniquely combined." Singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran told the court: "When you write songs, somebody comes after you", before telling jurors that he finds the claims “insulting”.