Finally, Ed Sheeran can now say that the ‘war is over.’
It cannot be denied that the Halifax singer and songwriter is one of the world’s best-selling musicians of this era. Given his influential gift in music, Sheeran is always keen to prove his skills in any situation — even in legal rights pursuit. Last week in New York City, the singer of the Grammy-winning song, ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ prevailed in court after battling with eight-long years of copyright infringement trial.
In 2014, Ed Townsend’s heirs, the co-writer of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 popular hit, ‘Let’s Get It On’, accused Sheeran of ripping off the said song for his own record, ‘Thinking Out Loud’, which the latter denied. As per him, it was impossible to reproduce an original ‘chord sequence’. The ‘Dive’ singer swore that if he would lose the case, he would give up his music career for good.
Last week, the deliberations lasted for three hours before the Manhattan jury gave the final verdict. When the decision was announced, the 32-year-old performer, who was seated at the defense table in the federal court, hugged his lawyers for winning the trial. Sheeran won and was found not guilty of infringement by playing guitar and singing live during the suit proceeding. He played various songs with similar four-chord progressions. Sheeran performed ‘Thinking Out Loud’, followed by other songs such as ‘Have I Told You Lately That I Love You’ by Rod Stewart, ‘People Get Ready’ by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, ‘Just Like A Woman’ by Bob Dylan, ‘You’re Still The One’ by Shania Twain, and ‘My Girl’ by Temptations.
On May 10, Sheeran joined The Howard Stern Show, talked about the lawsuit experience, and showed to the audience his magnificent mash-up performance to convince the jury that it was not likely for him to copy chord progression.
He explained that it was just basic musical ‘building blocks’ which aren’t subjected to copyright protection.
“Yes, it’s a chord sequence that you hear on successful songs, but if you say that a song in 1973 owns this, then what about all the songs that came before? No one’s saying that songs shouldn’t be copyrighted, but you just can’t copyright a chord sequence. You just can’t,” he clarified.
“I’m really glad it’s over man. It was eight years of that. This is my livelihood. This is the thing I’ve worked my entire life to do,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sheeran’s supporters expressed their joy on the Internet. Here are some of their tweets:
whether or not you like ed sheeran, him losing the trial would have really set a horrible precedent for the future of music. i am very glad he’s won! https://t.co/IFKQOxnCf0
— mary *ੈ✩‧₊˚ 🇵🇸 (@fr0ggygIrl) May 4, 2023
Happy to know that #EdSheeran won the trial.. great music continues.. ❤️😍
— _mockingjay (@dadnxtdoor_) May 5, 2023
Man.. that whole Ed Sheeran debacle was dumb.. glad he won the trial.
— PositivityMaster48 (@AustinRioux3) May 5, 2023
So glad #EdSheeran won the trial. The Gaye family’s greed backfired. Ed is far too skilled to need to copy anyone’s music. And imagine being accused of copyright violations while going through his grandmother’s death. pic.twitter.com/ofbcHNcQEC
— Poorna 𝕏 MV1🦁🧡🏆🏆🏆 (@PoornaSenev) May 4, 2023
Absolutely brilliant news @edsheeran won the trial. You can't copyright chord progressions (and wasn't a direct copy of that either) And the melody isn't the same. Common sense prevails.
— Simon Hopkins (@tinkerofthings) May 4, 2023
Congratulations, Ed!
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