British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has won over copyright claims that elements of his hit “Thinking Out Loud” were copied from Marvin Gaye’s classic track “Let’s Get It On.”
Sheeran had said he would quit his music career if found guilty at the trial in New York.
The jury sided with the UK popstar and his friend Amy Wadge on Friday ruling the pair did not infringe on “Let’s Get It On.”
According to a BBC report, Sheeran stood up and hugged his team after winning the copyright battle.
“It looks like I’m not going to have to retire from my day job after all,” he said. “But at the same time I am absolutely frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.”
Sheeran’s lawyer Ilene Farkas told the court that similarities in the chord progressions and rhythms of the two songs were “the letters of the alphabet of music.”
“These are basic musical building blocks that songwriters now and forever must be free to use, or all of us who love music will be poorer for it,” Farkas noted.
On the other hand, Keisha Rice, who represented the heirs of late composer Ed Townsend, said her clients were not claiming to own basic musical elements but rather “the way in which these common elements were uniquely combined.”
Last year, Sheeran also won his “Shape Of You” copyright case against the 2015 song “Oh Why” by UK artist Sami Chokri.
