Ed Sheeran reveals what helped him win Thinking Out Loud lawsuit
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran has opened up for the first time since winning the Thinking Out Loud copyright infringement lawsuit last week. Sheeran won a case against Marvin Gaye who alleged that the Shape of You singer had copied 1973 hit song Lets Get It On.
While speaking toGood Morning America, Sheeran said, that it was "101 songs with the same chord sequence, and that was just, like, scratching the surface". He added that the jury "was very quick to see that and be like, `Oh, yeah`".
From the beginning of the case, Sheeran had maintained his stand in the case and denied that he hadtaken from Gaye`s song, despite the lawsuit brought by the family of Gaye`s co-writer on the song, the late Ed Townsend.
Sheeran`s song does recall the tempo and chord progression of Gaye`s hit, but finally, his testimony and performance of the song, solo on acoustic guitar, during the trial helped lean the jury in his favour. He even mashed it up with other songs that are generally similar.
Sheeran's court appearance also made headlines as he brought his guitar and played on the stand. When asked what inspired him to bring the instrument to court, the singer said,"I`d been wanting to do it for ages since it came out, but you have to do due diligence in court. So I just waited and knew that I would have my day to explain it and didn`t rush anything."
A New York jury took just three hours of deliberation to reach its verdict last Thursday.
Outside the courtroom, Sheeran had said, "These chords are common building blocks which were used to create music long before Let`s Get It Onwas written and will be used to make music long after we are all gone. They are in a songwriter`s `alphabet`, our toolkit, and should be there for all of us to use. No one owns them or the way they are played, in the same way that nobody owns the colour blue."
