Ed Sheeran Wins Case for “Thinking Out Loud” Being Not a Partial Copy of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”

The jury found that the planetary tube, Thinking Out Loud, by the British artist, was not a partial copy of the famous Let’s Get It On of the prince of soul Marvin Gaye in 1973.

By Le Figaro with AFP

Posted on 04/05/2023 at 19:22update on 05/04/2023 at 7:35 p.m.

The British musician and singer, Ed Sheeranwon his civil trial in New York on Thursday where he was prosecuted for plagiarizing a song by American Marvin Gaye.

Second trial in a year

The Manhattan federal court jury, which had been trying for ten days in this emblematic music copyright case, found that the 32-year-old singer had created his song “independently” and that his 2014 planetary hit, Thinking Out Loud was therefore not a partial copy of the famous Let’s Get It On of the prince of soul Marvin Gaye in 1973.

The plaintiffs in this case were the heirs of Ed Townsend, an American musician and producer who co-wrote the track with Marvin Gaye. It was the second trial in a year for the 32-year-old British singer and songwriter, who in April 2022 won a separate court battle at the High Court in London, which dismissed two musicians accusing him of having copied one of their works for his mega hit Shape Of You.