Ed Sheeran has arrived in court for the second day of his $100 million copyright trial in which he is accused of ripping up Marvin Gaye’s classic Let’s Get It On.
The British pop star allegedly copied elements of the song for his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud.
Gaye’s co-writer Ed Townsend’s family says there are “amazing similarities” between the tracks.
During the opening trial in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, Sheeran was forced to deny allegations that a video of him performing a medley of the songs was a “confession.”
Sheeran, 32, told the jury that it would have been “completely foolish to stand on stage in front of 20,000 people and do it.”
Ed Sheeran has arrived in Manhattan federal court for the second day of the copyright trial against him
The British pop star has been accused of plagiarizing American singer Let’s Get It on the track to his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud”.
The heirs to Gaye’s co-writer, Ed Townsend, claim there are ‘stunning similarities’ in the tracks
US District Judge Louis Stanton added a moment of relief when he told the seven jurors “we don’t allow dancing” in videos of the pop star performing a medley of his hit song Thinking Out Loud and Marvin Gaye’s classic soul song Let’s Get On ‘It Been Played.
Lawyers for Townsend’s heirs, who are seeking $100 million in damages, offered a video of the mix to back up their claims, and music publisher and label Sheeran owes them a share of the song’s profits.
Ben Crump said the case was about “giving credit where credit is due”.
Sheeran looked to his attorney, Elaine Farkas, and insisted that the musician and co-writer, Amy Wudge, wrote their song independently and did not steal from Townsend and Gaye.
She said they created this heartfelt song without copying “Let’s Get It On”.
His lawyer said that the chord progressions and building blocks in Sheeran’s song are used frequently, and did not appear first on “Let’s Get It On”.
“Let’s Get It On” has been heard in countless movies and commercials and has racked up hundreds of millions in streams, spins and radio plays since its release in 1973. “Thinking Out Loud” won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 2016.
The lawsuit was filed in 2017. The trial is expected to last about a week.
Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love”, was a singer-songwriter and attorney. He passed away in 2003.
Katherine Townsend Griffin, his daughter, is the plaintiff leading the lawsuit.
“I think Mr. Sheeran is a wonderful artist with a great future,” she said in her testimony, adding that she did not want it to come to that point in the case. “But I have to protect my father’s legacy.”
Sheeran is expected to testify again later in the trial as part of the defense case.
If the jury finds Sheeran liable for copyright infringement, it will enter a phase two trial to determine how much he and his scores owe damages.
Sheeran was forced to deny that he plagiarized the song during opening remarks on Tuesday
A video of him performing a mix of the songs was said to be a ‘confession’.
Katherine Townsend Griffin, daughter of singer-songwriter Ed Townsend, speaks outside Manhattan federal court on Wednesday
Way back: The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer on the 1973 classic, sued Sheeran, claiming “spectacular similarities” and “overt common elements” between the 2014 track and the Motown hit (Townsend was filmed in 1959)
Mike Gilbert, partner and copyright infringement expert at Marks & Clerk, told DailyMail.com that the trial has potential implications for future cases.
He said: ‘Despite his clear victory in the English courts when faced with similar allegations by Shukry of copying consensual progression in Shape of You last year, Ed Sheeran will once again face charges of substantive copying but this time in the US justice system.
Many had hoped that the previous trial in the UK had drawn a clear line in the sand for artists considering taking similar suits to court.
Over recent years, an increasing number of these types of copyright infringement cases have come to court, and the decision in Shoukry’s trial should have sent a clear signal that should deter future claimants.
The truth is that top performers are well aware of the obligations they have to pay credit when credit is due. But the current battle is not with the artist, but with the ownership of the songwriter. The claim began years before last year’s “Shape You” decision.
“The trial — which was due to start on Monday next week — has also been delayed for six years due to the pandemic. We are waiting to see how the evidence and a decision turn out in time.
