Ed Sheeran Emerges Victorious from Copyright Trial Against Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”

The English pop star claimed victory–and recommitted to making music–in the wake of another copyright infringement lawsuit.

Nearly everyone in the world knows of Ed Sheeran, the prolific singer-songwriter who has taken the pop world by storm ever since the release of his 2011 single ‘The A Team.’ And whether you love him, hate him, or could care less about him, it’s impossible not to admit that he’s as talented and unique as they come–but a certain copyright trial hoped to refute this.

The trial was brought about by the heirs of Ed Townsend, the co-writer of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 hit ‘Let’s Get It On,’ who sued Sheeran, his record label Warner Music Group, and his music publisher Sony Music Publishing in a copyright infringement lawsuit. The suit claimed that Sheeran’s 2014 hit single ‘Thinking Out Loud’ infringed on the copyright for ‘Let’s Get It On.’

The Guardian reported that Kathryn Townsend Griffin, the daughter of Ed Townsend, filed the suit back in 2017 in order to protect her ‘father’s legacy’–and also asked for $100 million in damages. Sheeran and his co-writer Amy Wadge denied the claim in a trial that began in late April and reached a verdict last week in favor of the English pop star.

During the trial, Sheeran claimed that if he lost he would stop making music, as he found the allegations in the lawsuit “really insulting.” The good news for Sheeran fans is that this ultimatum needn’t be fulfilled; after a three-hour deliberation, the jury ruled in favor of the artist. In a public response to the trial outcome, Sheeran claimed that the decision would help protect artists’ creativity and integrity in the future. “[This decision] will help to protect the creative process of songwriters here in the United States and around the world,” he said. “[I’m not] going to have to retire from my day job after all.”

The reasoning Sheeran and his attorneys used to defend his work was simple but effective. “There’s four chords that get used in pop songs, and there’s however many notes–eight notes or whatever–and there’s 60,000 songs released every single day,” Sheeran told Seth Doane in an interview with CBS News last Sunday.

Last Friday, Sheeran celebrated his trial victory with a surprise concert on the streets of New York City. The impromptu performance occurred just outside of his Soho pop-up shop promoting the release of his newest studio album ‘Subtract.’ Both supporters and those that aren’t huge fans of the artist took to social media to join in the celebration.

“Not a fan of Ed Sheeran, but I see nothing wrong with this outcome,” one user commented in response to @PopBase’s Tweet about the trial. “This was not the same as ‘Blurred Lines,’ where that was pretty much a rip. ‘Thinking Out Loud’ & ‘Let’s Get It On’ don’t even sound the same.”

“Right and just,” another user commented. “Music is for everyone and no artist should have a claim on chord progressions. Hope Ed celebrates tonight. This was a shakedown…money grubbing people that had nothing to do with the original song. Hope they learned a valuable lesson today. Let this be a deterrent to all these baseless claims.”

Lucie Turkel

Lucie Turkel joined the Exron Music team a little over three months ago and has blasted off into the realm of otherworldly music ever since. Core memories in the dance music scene include scoring VIP tickets to Kygo’s UTOPIA, a 12-hour trip to Ibiza (the island) to see David Guetta perform, and seeing Flume play his Tennis Court remix on an actual tennis court. In addition to her work with Exron, Lucie works as a full-time campaign coordinator at Live Nation and freelances for Reader’s Digest. She is based in Brooklyn, NY.

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