British musician Ed Sheeran wins U.S. copyright trial

A US jury has ruled that British pop star Ed Sheeran did not plagiarize Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” when creating his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud”. The lawsuit was filed by heirs of Gaye’s cowriter, Ed Townsend, who claimed that harmonic progressions and rhythmic elements of Sheeran’s song were copied from the classic without permission. Sheeran testified that he wrote the song independently with singer-songwriter Amy Wadge in 2014, and the jury found that the songs were not substantially similar. The ruling could have set a precedent for protections on songwriters’ creations and opened the door to legal challenges elsewhere. The case is one of many recent copyright trials, including a 2016 case in which Gaye’s family successfully sued Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I. over similarities between “Blurred Lines” and Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up”.

Sources: CGTN

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