Ed Sheeran arrives in New York City for the alleged copyright infringement trial on April 25, 2023.
Photo: Getty Images, John Lamparski. All rights reserved.
On Thursday (May 4), a jury in US federal court in Manhattan ruled that Ed Sheeran’s 2014 play Thinking Out Loud did not constitute copyright infringement. The British singer-songwriter has thus officially won the process. Sheeran had been sued by composer Ed Townsend’s heirs, who accused him of borrowing from the Marvin Gaye classic “Let’s Get It On” (which Townsend co-wrote at the time).
Sheeran denied the charges, pointing out on the second day of the trial (April 25) that pop songs often share chord progressions and other elements. The 32-year-old musician even threatened to stop playing music altogether if he lost the case. After winning the case, Sheeran shared a video on Instagram in which the musician took a stand in front of numerous journalists in front of the courthouse. He says: “It’s devastating to be accused of stealing someone else’s song when we’ve put so much work into making a living. I’m just a guy with a guitar who loves to write music for people to enjoy…I’m not a piggy bank to shake.”
The “Shape Of You” hitmaker also thanked the jury for making a decision “that will help protect the creative process for songwriters here in the United States and around the world.” He added: “I’m obviously very happy with the outcome of the case and it looks like I won’t have to retire from my job after all. But at the same time, I’m incredibly frustrated that baseless claims like this are even allowed to go to court.” Most recently, Sheeran lamented missing his grandmother’s funeral because of the trial and that he “will never get that time back.”
Captioning the video, he wrote: “It’s all over, back to what I love to do most. The new album will be out tomorrow, the US tour starts Saturday in Dallas, I love you all.” On Friday (May 5, 2023) Ed Sheeran released his new album “-‘ (subtract) published.