Ed Sheeran Beats Marvin Gaye's Ghost in Court Over 'Thinking Out Loud'

Ed Sheeran can finally breathe a sigh of relief after a jury in Manhattan federal court cleared him of ripping off Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On' for his smash hit 'Thinking Out Loud'. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2017 by the heirs of Gaye's co-writer, Ed Townsend, claimed that Sheeran stole the groove, melody and vibe of Gaye's 1973 soul classic without asking nicely. They said that Sheeran's song was a blatant copycat of Gaye's song, which they called a 'cornerstone' of American culture and romance.

Sheeran denied the accusations and said that he and his co-writer, Amy Wadge, came up with 'Thinking Out Loud' on their own after having a heart-to-heart chat. He also showed off his guitar skills in court, playing both songs and explaining how common the four-chord progression was in music. He said he was influenced by Irish singer Van Morrison and not by Gaye. (Yeah, right.) 

 Sheeran's lawyer, Ilene Farkas, told the jurors that the case was nonsense and that Sheeran was 'unjustly accused' of copying from 'Let's Get It On'. She said that the similarities in the songs were 'the letters of the alphabet of music' and that songwriters should be free to use them or else music would suck. 

The jury agreed with Sheeran and found him not liable for copyright infringement after about three hours of deliberations. Sheeran, who was sitting at the defense table, hugged his lawyers and looked relieved when the verdict was read. He did not say anything to the press after leaving the court, probably because he was too busy thinking out loud. 

This is not the first time Sheeran has been sued over his songs. He won a trial in London last year over his hit 'Shape of You', which some people said sounded like TLC's 'No Scrubs'. He also paid $20 million to settle a lawsuit over his hit 'Photograph', which some people said sounded like Matt Cardle's 'Amazing'. 

Gaye's heirs also have a habit of suing other artists for allegedly copying from his songs. They won $5.3 million from a lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over their song 'Blurred Lines', which they said sounded like Gaye's 'Got to Give It Up' in 2015. Maybe they should just let it go.