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British musician Ed Sheeran wins US copyright trial

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Maggy Donaldson, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Musician Ed Sheeran standing with his legal team outside of a federal court house after a jury found he had not committed copyright infringement in New York, New York, USA, 04 May 2023. Sheeran had been accused of copying portions of the Marvin Gaye song " Get="" it="" which="" was="" co-written="" by="" Ed="" in="" his="" song="" Out="" Justine="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/entertainment/06/04/20230504-sheran.jpg"/><figcaption>Musician Ed Sheeran standing with his legal team outside of a federal court house after a jury found he had not committed copyright infringement in New York, New York, USA, 04 May 2023. Sheeran had been accused of copying portions of the Marvin Gaye song &#x27;Let’s Get it On&#x27;, which was co-written by Ed Townsend, in his song &#x27;Thinking Out Loud&#x27;. <em>Justine Lane, EPA-EFE</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>NEW YORK — British pop phenom Ed Sheeran did not plagiarize Marvin Gaye&#x27;s &quot;Let&#x27;s Get It On&quot; when composing his 2014 hit &quot;Thinking Out Loud,&quot; a US jury ruled Thursday.</p><p>Sheeran stood up and hugged his team after jurors ruled that he &quot;independently&quot; created his song, according to an AFP reporter inside the Manhattan federal courtroom.</p><p>The lawsuit was filed by heirs of Gaye co-writer Ed Townsend, who alleged that harmonic progressions and rhythmic elements of Sheeran&#x27;s song were lifted from the classic made famous by Gaye without permission.</p><p>The heirs sought a share of the profits from Sheeran&#x27;s song.</p><p>Sheeran, 32, played a number of songs from the witness stand as he gave evidence in the civil trial.</p><p>The English musician testified that he writes most of his songs in a day, and noted that he cowrote &quot;Thinking Out Loud&quot; with singer-songwriter Amy Wadge, a regular partner.</p><p>The two wrote &quot;Thinking Out Loud&quot; at Sheeran&#x27;s home in February 2014, he said.</p><p>&quot;We sat guitar to guitar,&quot; Sheeran said, according to US media. &quot;We wrote together quite a lot.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/04/28/23/ed-sheeran-reaches-for-guitar-to-defend-self-in-court-report">Ed Sheeran reaches for guitar to defend self in court: report</a></li></ul><p>The jurors who were tasking with deciding if Sheeran&#x27;s song and Gaye&#x27;s classic are substantially similar and if their common elements are protected by copyright law.</p><p>Townsend&#x27;s family had pointed out that the group Boyz II Men has performed mash-ups of the two songs, and that Sheeran has blended the songs together on stage as well.</p><p>Sheeran&#x27;s team contested the allegations, saying &quot;there are dozens if not hundreds of songs that predate and postdate&quot; Gaye&#x27;s song, &quot;utilizing the same or similar chord progression.&quot;</p><p>A musicologist retained by the defense says in court documents that the four-chord sequence was used in a number of songs before Gaye&#x27;s hit came out in 1973.</p><p>Industry members closely followed the copyright lawsuit as it could have set precedent for protections on songwriters&#x27; creations and open the door to legal challenges elsewhere.</p><p>It was the second trial in a year for Sheeran, who successfully testified at a London court last April in a case centered around his song &quot;Shape Of You,&quot; saying that lawsuit was emblematic of copyright litigation going too far. The judge ruled in his favor.</p><p>Sheeran&#x27;s &quot;Thinking Out Loud&quot; shot up America&#x27;s Billboard Hot 100 charts when it was released, and won Sheeran a Song of the Year prize at the Grammys in 2016.</p><p>There has been a flood of such copyright trials in recent years, notably in 2016 when Gaye&#x27;s family -- who is not part of the New York lawsuit against Sheeran -- successfully sued artists Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I. over similarities between the song &quot;Blurred Lines&quot; and Gaye&#x27;s &quot;Got to Give it Up.&quot;</p><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SfV5B7csJUk?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Sheeran stood up and hugged his team after jurors ruled that he 'independently' created his song.

British musician Ed Sheeran wins US copyright trial

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British musician Ed Sheeran wins US copyright trial

Maggy Donaldson,

Agence France-Presse

Published May 05, 2023 02:22 AM PHT

Read More:

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran copyright trial

Marvin Gaye

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