NYC jury: Ed Sheeran didn’t copy ‘Let’s Get It On’ in ‘Thinking Out Loud’

Ed Sheeran didn’t commit copyright infringement of the Marvin Gaye classic “Let’s Get It On” with his hit song “Thinking Out Loud,” a Manhattan Federal Court jury found Thursday.

The nearly two-week trial saw Sheeran deny an accusation by the heirs of “Let’s Get It On” co-writer Ed Townsend that the British singer-songwriter stole components of Gaye’s 1973 soul anthem for his 2014 track.

Following Thursday’s win, Sheeran unleashed a grin and said he was feeling “great.”

“We have spent the last eight years talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies and four chords which are also different and used by songwriters every day all over the world,” Sheeran said outside the courthouse.

Townsend’s daughter, Kathryn Townsend Griffin, sued Sheeran in 2017, claiming there were clear similarities between the songs. Sheeran, 32, rejected the accusation, saying the case threatened the creativity of all music makers and vowing to quit the industry if he were found liable.

“I am obviously very happy with the outcome of the case, and it looks like I’m not going to have to retire from my day job after all,” Sheeran quipped Thursday. “But at the same time I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.”

During the trial, Sheeran played his song’s four-chord sequence on an acoustic guitar in the witness box and sang the lyrics as he reflected on writing the song with friend Amy Wadge.

“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 a songwriter’s ‘alphabet’, our tool kit and should be there for us all to use. No-one owns them, or the way they are played, in the same way, nobody owns the color blue,” Sheeran said outside the courthouse.

Lawyers for Townsend’s estate, meanwhile, pointed to a 2014 concert in Zurich in which Sheeran performed “Thinking Out Loud” before segueing into “Let’s Get It On.”

“The Zurich video is further evidence that he knew exactly what he was doing when he played those two songs together,” lawyer Keisha Rice claimed during Wednesday’s closing arguments.

Jurors took less than three hours to deliberate. Juror Sophia Neis, 23, described the panel as a “great group of people” who spent a long time making sure they got the questions and definitions right. She said hearing Sheeran’s song in court was one of several “key factors” that led to their decision.

“It’s obviously cool to have anyone play music in front of you live, so that was an interesting surprise,” she said of Sheeran’s rendition. “It was very cool hearing him sing in court.”

“Thinking Out Loud” was a massive hit, peaking at No. 2 on the U.S. singles chart and winning song of the year at the 2016 Grammy Awards. It’s one of nine Top 10 songs by Sheeran, whose chart-toppers include “Shape of You” and “Perfect.”

An emotional Sheeran hugged his legal team and his wife, Cherry, after 95-year-old Judge Louis Stanton accepted the verdict shortly after 1 p.m. Sheeran also embraced Wadge, who was visibly emotional.

“Amy and I work hard to independently create songs which are often based around real-life, personal experiences. It is devastating and also insulting to be accused of stealing other people’s songs when we have put so much work into our livelihoods,” Sheeran said.

“I am just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy. I am not and will never allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake.”

Sheeran chatted after the verdict with Townsend Griffin, sharing a few laughs and hugging her multiple times during a lengthy conversation.

Townsend Griffin then briefly addressed reporters as she left the courthouse, smoking a cigarette and saying, “God is good all the time” before getting leaving in a car. Her dad died in 2003, nearly two decades after Gaye was fatally shot by his own father.

Sheeran, a four-time Grammy winner out of 16 nominations, previously settled a lawsuit involving his song “Photograph.” Last year, he won a copyright case involving “Shape of You.”

Another Gaye song, 1977′s “Got to Give It Up,” was the center of a copyright infringement lawsuit involving the 2013 song “Blurred Lines” by Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke, with a jury siding with Gaye’s heirs in 2015.

The case against Sheeran coincided with Donald Trump’s civil rape trial in a lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, making for some surreal scenes around the lower Manhattan courthouse over the last two weeks.

Sheeran prepared his defense with his lawyers in the cafeteria at lunchtime each day, who set up shop tables away from Trump’s defense team.

In another peculiar parallel, Sheeran on Thursday said he had missed his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland to attend the trial. By contrast, Trump chose to skip his civil rape trial to golfing at his Irish resort

“Having to be in New York for this trial has meant that I have missed being with my family at my grandmother’s funeral in Ireland,” Sheeran said Thursday. “I won’t get that time back.”