Ed Sheeran fends off Marvin Gaye copyright claims
Musician rails against “baseless claims”, emphasising that certain chords are part of every “songwriter’s toolkit” | Case marks the second time that Sheeran has beaten back copyright claims.
After a six-day trial, Ed Sheeran has secured a victory in a high-profile infringement lawsuit that alleged that he had copied elements of Marvin Gaye’s groove classic, Let’s Get It On.
Sheeran was accused of using parts of the melody from Gaye’s 1973 hit in his own grammy-winning chart topper, Thinking Out Loud.
After deliberating for just shy of three hours, a federal jury at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York unanimously concluded yesterday, Thursday, May 4, that Sheeran was not liable for infringement.
Background
Gaye co-wrote Let’s Get It On with the late singer Eric Townsend, who went on to receive two-thirds of the royalties from the song. In 2017, Townsend’s daughter Kathryn Griffin, alongside her sister Helen McDonald, and the estate of Townsend’s former wife, Cherrigale Townsend, sued Sheeran for copying melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of the classic song .
During the proceedings, Sheeran and his legal team had countered that there are only so many notes in music and that coincidence is par for the course in the industry.
He argued that he had only a passing familiarity with Gaye’s song, and that Thinking Out Loud had in fact been inspired by the work of Irish musician,Van Morrison.
Sheeran had even vowed that he would quit music if he had failed to sway the jury after presenting his arguments.
‘A relief for artists’
Yesterday, the musician delivered a relieved, yet defiant, statement to the media outside the courthouse—insisting that the chords at the heart of the case were “common building blocks” in music and “part of every songwriter’s toolkit”.
He told reporters: “I’m obviously very happy with the outcome of the case. It looks like I’m not having to retire from my day job after all. At the same time, I’m unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.
“We’ve spent the last eight years talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies and four chords, which are also different and are used by songwriters every day, all over the world.
“These chords are common building blocks, which were used to create music long before Let’s Get It On was written and will be used to make music long after we are all gone. They are in a songwriter’s alphabet, our toolkit, and should be there for all of us to use. No one owns them or the way they’re played in the same way no one owns the colour blue.”
Commenting on the case, Ed Wright, partner at Shakespeare Martineau, hailed Sheeran’s win “as a relief to artists” on both sides of the Atlantic.
“In the same way that words and letters are used to create stories, chord progressions and musical notes are the building blocks of music and these should never ‘owned’ by any one person,” he said.
The lines between plagiarism, paying tribute or being inspired by other works are hard to define, he added, predicting that: “We will see an increase in similar cases in the future as people who manage deceased artists’ estates seek to protect both their assets and legacies.”
Michael Gardner, partner and head of IP & commercial at Wedlake Bell, agreed that the ruling marked “a huge win” for Sheeran.
“Not only has he successfully fought off what could have been a very expensive damages claim, but by facing down the allegations and winning so clearly in a case that some music commentators thought he might lose, he's sent a powerful message to other would-be claimants: don't go after Ed and expect him to just pay you off.”
This is not the first time Sheeran has prevailed against claims of plagiarism. Last year, the High Court of England and Wales found that he didn’t rip off another song when composing his 2017 hit, Shape of You.
Griffin et al v Sheeran et al is one of three cases brought by Townsend’s estate, with two still on hold.
