Ed Sheeran Cleared In Marvin Gaye Copyright Trial

Jurors found that Ed Sheeran did not lift Marvin Gaye’s 1973 song “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 song “Thinking Out Loud.”

Ed Sheeranreceived a win in his copyright infringement trial. On Thursday (May 4), After two days of deliberations, jurors found that the 32-year-old singer-songwriter did not lift the classic 1973 Marvin Gaye song “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 song “Thinking Out Loud” on Thursday. 

The heirs of “Let’s Get It On” co-writer Ed Townsend alleged that the two songs had similarities within their chord progression, harmonic rhythm, and certain melodies. Sheeran’s team argued dissimilarities, with Sheeran even playing “Thinking Out Loud” on his guitar during trial to demonstrate his songwriting process. The four-time Grammy-winner also claimed that he’d never heard “Let’s Get It On” until after “Thinking Out Loud” was released.

"The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters," Sheeran's legal team reportedly wrote. Earlier this week, the artist also suggested a retirement from music if he lost the plagiarism lawsuit.

“To have someone come in and say, ‘We don’t believe you, you must have stole[n] it’...I find it really insulting to work my whole life as a singer-songwriter and diminish[es] it,” Sheeran said.

While the trial will move on to a second phase to determine damages, but the trial makes the third time Sheeran’s been accused of copyright infringement. In April 2022, he won a similar lawsuit against U.K. artist Sami Switch, who accused Sheeran’s 2017 song “Shape of You” for being too similar to his 2015 song “Oh Why.” Ed Sheeran Cleared In Marvin Gaye Copyright Triala 2016 lawsuit that accused him of copying his 2014 song “Photograph” from Matt Cardle's song "Amazing.