Sheeran arrives at court for third day of $100mn trial after expert says songs very similar

Ed Sheeran was pictured today arriving at the Manhattan federal court in New York for the third day of a copyright trial over allegations his 2014 track Thinking Out Loud ripped off elements of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic Let’s Get it On.

The heirs of Gaye’s co-writer, Ed Townsend, are seeking $100mn in damages in a trial expected to last one week over allegations the British singer-songwriter ‘copied and exploited’ the soul hit. 

Yesterday, the plaintiff’s lawyers called on musicologist Dr Alexander Stewart to testify about the alleged ‘striking similarities’ of the two tracks.

Insider reported that laughter broke out in the courtroom as a computer-generated version of Let’s Get it On was played to highlight the similarities between the tracks.

Dr Stewart told the jury that Sheeran repeats a very similar progression in verses of Thinking Out Loud – though the lyrics and melodies differ. 

Ed Sheeran (pictured left) arrives for his copyright infringement trial on 27 April 2023 

Ed Sheeran, left, arrives at federal court in New York, Thursday, April 27, 2023. Sheeran was expected to testify Thursday, denying allegations that his hit song ripped off  ‘Let’s Get It On’

On Wednesday, Dr Stewart outlined the similarities between the two hit songs, noting how they ‘have the same harmonic rhythm’ while pointing out melodic similarities in the verse, chorus and interlude.

Ed Sheeran’s lawsuits 

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is one of the best-selling artists of all time and is worth around $200million.

The pop singer has also faced a number of lawsuits alleging copyright issues.

In 2016, he was sued by songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard for $20million. They said his single Photograph copied elements of their song, Amazing.

In 2017, the heirs of Ed Townsend filed the Let’s Get it On case. The case was dismissed without prejudice. 

A year later, the estate filed a new lawsuit. Despite Sheeran’s attempts to have it dismissed again, it has gone ahead. 

Last year, Sheeran won a copyright battle at the High Court in London over his 2017 song Shape Of You. 

Sheeran had been sued by musician Sami Chokri over the similarities with a refrain in the song.

Mr Chokri claimed the phrase ‘Oh I’ in Sheeran’s song was ‘strikingly similar’ to the ‘Oh Why’ hook in his track. 

Shape Of You was the UK’s best-selling song of 2017 in the UK. 

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A plaintiff lawyer ran through the computer-generated version of Let’s Get it On and asked Dr Alexander Stewart: ‘Did that sound particularly soulful to you?’

Sheeran’s lawyer objected. Stewart identified a similar progression in verses of his song to the ones in the one penned by Gaye and Townsend more than 40 years prior.

The testimony took up all of the proceedings on Wednesday. 

Also on Wednesday, plaintiff Ms Townsend Griffin – the daughter of the late Ed Townsend – collapsed while trying to leave the courtroom.

She was helped up by several people but had to be stretchered out of court and was taken to hospital. 

Her lawyers did not disclose what caused Ms Townsend Griffin to faint but said she has a pre-existing medical condition. 

The incident caused a seven-minute delay before Judge Louis Stanton ordered the proceedings to continue.

The day before, Ed Sheeran appeared to testify and denied all wrongdoing.

Lawyer Ben Crump, for the plaintiffs, on Tuesday showed a video of the star performing a mash-up of both songs on stage, which he said amounted to a ‘confession’. 

‘We have a smoking gun,’ he said, and added that the case was about ‘giving credit where credit is due’. 

Sheeran told the jury he would have been ‘quite an idiot to stand on a stage in front of 20,000 people and do that’.

He argued that it was ‘quite simple to weave in and out of songs’ that are in the same key, and that many pop songs share the same chord progressions. 

‘You could go from Let it Be to No Woman, No Cry and switch back,’ Sheeran testified, referring to the Beatles and Bob Marley classics. 

Sheeran – who is one of the best-selling artists of all time and is worth around $200million – said he composed Thinking Out Loud with co-writer Amy Wadge in a collaborative writing session inspired by his grandparents’ romance.

Jury selection began on Monday 24 April, with Sheeran first appearing to testify on Tuesday. 

Sheeran’s label Atlantic Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

A stretcher was brought in to assist Ms Townsend Griffin after she collapsed on Wednesday

Sheeran leaves Manhattan Federal Court on the second day of his copyright infringement trial

Sheeran is accused of ripping off Marvin Gaye’s 1973 soul classic Let’s Get it On

The heirs of Ed Townsend (pictured), Gaye’s co-writer on the 1973 classic, have sued Sheeran, alleging ‘striking similarities’ between the 2014 track and the Motown hit 

Let’s Get It On has been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays since it came out in 1973.

Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit For Your Love, was a singer, songwriter and lawyer. He died in 2003.

Thinking Out Loud won a Grammy for Song of the Year in 2016. 

Ed Sheeran has sold more than 150million records worldwide, winning Song of the Year in 2016 for Thinking Out Loud, five Brit awards in the United Kingdom and six Billboard Music Awards.