Celebrity News May 04, 2023
Ed Sheeran Reacts After He’s Found Not Liable in Marvin Gaye Copyright Case
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A jury found Ed Sheeran not liable in the Marvin Gaye plagiarism case on Thursday, reports Variety.
The star was accused of copying Gaye’s hit song “Let’s Get It On” for his own tune “Thinking Out Loud.”
The lawsuit was brought by the heirs of Gaye’s co-writer Ed Townsend, who accused Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge of copyright infringement for allegedly copying a chord progression and the song’s rhythm.
The jury, however, sided with Sheeran and acquitted him in Manhattan federal court.
Afterward, Sheeran read a statement to the press outside the courtroom.
“We need songwriters and the writing community to come together to bring back common sense,” Sheeran said. “These claims must be stopped so the creative process can carry on and we can all get back to making music. And at the same time we absolutely need trusted individuals, real experts, to help support the process and protect copyright.”
Sheeran had previously threatened to quit the industry if he was found guilty.
“If that happens, I’m done, I’m stopping,” he said. “I find it really insulting to devote my whole life to being a performer and a songwriter and have someone diminish it.”
Sheeran’s attorney Ilene Farkas argued during the trial that Ed was using “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.”
The plaintiffs’ lawyer Keisha Rice, had argued that the issue was “the way in which these common elements were uniquely combined.”
