The Ed Sheeran’s copyright trial finally comes to an end. In 2018, a lawsuit was filed against Ed Sheeran by the co-writer of Marvin Gaye’s hit song “Let’s get it on” Ed Townsend. The claims were that Ed Sheeran’s song, “Thinking out loud” is a copy of “Let’s get it on.” The case was initially rejected by the United States district judge in 2019. It was brought back in April 2024 again and the trail has been going on ever since, until it finally came to an end on this Thursday (May 4th 2024) when the jury in the United States passed a verdict saying, Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking out loud” is not an unlawful copy of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s get it on.”
Image source: Business Insider
The claims made by Ed Townsend were that “Thinking out loud” and “Let’s get it on” has the same chord progression and other similarities in the musical structure and that therefore the song “Thinking out loud” was copied from “Let’s get it on”. The legal team of Ed Sheeran argued that the elements in question are not unique to “Let’s get it on” and were common in many pop songs. They further argued that the song has different melody, lyrics and that the overall sound is different. They argued that Ed Sheeran had not intentionally copied any elements from Gaye’s song.
Sheeran’s lawyers used the concept of “building blocks” to argue in this case. They argued that the similarities between the two songs were not significant enough to constitute a copyright infringement. The concept of “building blocks” in music describes the fundamental elements of a song, such as melody, harmony, and rhythm. Many musical theorists claim that these structural similarities between the two songs may exist, but not to the point where they can be considered blatant replicas of one another.
While the trial was going on, Ed stated that if his song was found to be unlawfully copied, he would quit making music and that he finds it insulting that he dedicates his entirety to being a songwriter, a performer, and a producer just to have people diminish his work. When he won the trail on Thursday, he told the reporters outside, that he was very happy but also was remarkably frustrated that unsupported claims like these make it to the trail. Reportedly, Ed missed his grandmother’s funeral due to the compulsory attendance in court for the trail. He said to the reporters outside, “Having to be in New York for this trial means I’ve missed being with my family at my grandmother’s funeral and I will never get that time back.”
Image source: Yahoo News
The netizens seem very divisive over this issue. While many critics and music enthusiasts seem to be supportive toward Ed Sheeran, a handful number of people on twitter seem to be disagreeing with the court’s verdict.
Copyright claims are complicated and can be subjective, often involving a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism. Ultimately, with his integrity as a songwriter finally affirmed in the court, Ed Sheeran can now sigh with relief and continue to concentrate on his music career.
