Nowadays, people are suing anyone for anything – literally, ANYTHING. Singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran has spoken out against “dangerous” copyright claims after defeating a lawsuit alleging that he copied Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On” when he wrote his Grammy Award-winning song “Thinking Out Loud.”
As Sheeran addressed reporters outside the Manhattan federal courthouse on Thursday, he expressed his gratitude and happiness on the jury ruling in his favor.
Sheeran further stated, “But at the same time, I’m unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.”
Sheeran had initially been accused of copyrighting the sheet music for “Let’s Get It On” by the family of the song’s late co-writer, Ed Townsend. The lawsuit claimed that Sheeran took the rhythm, chord progression and other elements for his 2014 song “Thinking Out Loud” without permission from the 1973 soul classic.
“I’m very grateful that the jury saw through those attempts,” he said. “This seems so dangerous to me, both for potential claimants who may be convinced to bring a bogus claim, as well as those songwriters facing them.”
This wasn’t the first time either man’s music has been at the center of a copyright trial. Last year, Sheeran won a copyright infringement case involving “Shape of You.”
“We need to be able to write our original music and engage in independent creation without worrying at every step of the way that such creativity will be wrongly called into question,” Sheeran added.
The plaintiffs declined to make a statement outside of the courthouse following the verdict.
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