Ed Sheeran takes stand at New York civil trial accused of copying Marvin Gaye classic
British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has taken the stand at the beginning of a civil trial in Manhattan alleging his hit “Thinking Out Loud” ripped off the classic Marvin Gaye tune “Let’s Get It On”.
Descendants of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer on the 1973 hit, claim Sheeran, his label Warner Music Group, and music publisher Sony Music Publishing owe them a share of the profits for allegedly copying the song.
The copyright infringement trial in Manhattan, New York, is the first of three Sheeran could face from lawsuits over similarities between the two hits.
Under questioning from Keisha Rice, a lawyer for Mr Townsend’s descendants, Sheeran was asked about a song of his, “Take It Back,” which contains the lyric “plagiarism is hidden”.
“Those are my lyrics, yep,” said Sheeran, wearing a black suit and light blue tie. “Can I give some context to them?”
Rice said if she needed more context, she would ask.
She then asked Sheeran, 32, about a video clip of a show in which he performed Gaye’s song live as a medley with “Thinking Out Loud”.
Ben Crump, another lawyer for the Townsend’s descendants, had earlier said the performance amounted to a confession by Sheeran.
“We have a smoking gun,” he said of the concert footage showing Sheeran flipping between the two songs.
Mr Crump said the case is about “giving credit where credit is due”.
Sheeran said he sometimes mashed up songs with similar chords at his gigs, but grew frustrated when Rice cut off his response.
“I feel like you don’t want me to answer because you know that what I’m going to say is actually going to make quite a lot of sense,” he said.
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Kathryn Townsend Griffin (C) – daughter of singer and songwriter Ed Townsend, speaks outside New York Federal Court before the start of the trial. Pic: AP
Sheeran’s lawyer, Ilene Farkas, earlier said the two songs are distinct and told jurors that the plaintiffs should not be allowed to “monopolise” a chord progression and melody that are used in countless songs.
“No one owns basic musical building blocks,” Farkas said.
“You could go from ‘Let it Be’ to ‘No Woman, No Cry’ and switch back,” Sheeran told the court, referring to The Beatles and Bob Marley classics.
“If I had done what you’re accusing me of doing, I’d be a quite an idiot to stand on a stage in front of 20,000 people and do that.”
If the jury finds Sheeran liable for copyright infringement, the trial will enter a second phase to determine how much he and his labels owe in damages.
The first 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 lawyer.
He died in 2003.
His daughter, Kathryn Townsend Griffin, is the plaintiff leading the case.
A “technical issue” at British Airways has delayed flights, reportedly for thousands of passengers.
Travel journalist Simon Calder said on X: “British Airways IT system failure is causing delays of 1-2 hours on many BA flights this evening… As delays build up I fear there will be cancellations tonight/tomorrow.”
In a statement on Monday evening, British Airways said flights were “currently operating, but are experiencing delays” and that its teams were working to “resolve a technical issue affecting some of our systems”.
Later they said it had been resolved: “Our teams worked hard to resolve an issue we experienced for a short time earlier this evening.
“We’ve apologised to customers for delays to their flights and ensured they were able to reach their destinations as planned.”
Earlier media reports suggested dozens of flights were grounded and that communications systems were affected.
One X user pictured people queueing on the tarmac in Verona, Italy. “What has happened to the nations airline? Not fit for purpose,” they said.
Replying to another X user BA said: “Our website is down. We are doing all we can to return online as soon as possible.
“Hopefully not too long before the Captain has his load sheet. Thanks for your understanding. Have a good journey when it is safe for you to be airborne.”
A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport said: “We are aware of a technical issue that British Airways are investigating, and we will be working with them to provide updates to passengers as soon as they are available. Heathrow systems are operating as normal.”
In June many British Airways (BA) flights in Heathrow were delayed by several hours by a “technical fault” with baggage handling.
BA said there had been a “temporary technical fault” which had disrupted its baggage system at the airport and had apologised for the problems it caused.
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In January “intermittent issues” with the airline’s app and website meant customers could not access them.
BA’s customer score for long-haul flights was the joint third lowest out of 17 carriers analysed by Which? in February.
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