Ed Sheeran-Marvin Gaye copyright case: Star wins trial over claims Thinking Out Loud ripped off Let’s Get It On
Ed Sheeran has won his copyright trial over similarities between his hit single Thinking Out Loud and the Marvin Gaye 1973 classic Let’s Get It On.
Sheeran was accused of ripping off part of the famed soul track Gaye created with fellow songwriter Ed Townsend in a lawsuit originally filed by heirs of Townsend in 2017.
They alleged the British star’s 2014 number one has “striking similarities” to Let’s Get It On and “overt common elements” that infringe their copyright.
On Thursday, a New York jury decided that Sheeran did not infringe copyright of Let’s Get It On.
Pic: Elizabeth Williams/AP
The jury took just under three hours to decide he independently created Thinking Out Loud.
Those inside the court said Sheeran stood up and hugged his lawyers when the decision was read out, and his wife was seen wiping away tears.
Speaking outside court, Sheeran said he was “very happy” to have won his case and that he did “not have to retire from [his] day job after all”.
According to reports, the star had said he would be “done” with music should he lose the case.
He added outside court that he was “unbelievable frustrated baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all”.
“We’ve spent the last eight years talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies and four chords which are also different and used by songwriters every day, all over the world,” he said.
“These chords are common building blocks which were used to create music long before Let’s Get It On was written.”
He said they should be there for all songwriters to use and no one owns them, in the same way “no one owns the colour blue”.
During a week-long hearing at a federal court in Manhattan, New York City, jurors heard arguments from both sides – as well as a few brief guitar sing-alongs from Sheeran and a recording of the star himself playing a “mash-up” of the two songs on stage.
Kathryn Townsend Griffin, daughter of Ed Townsend, Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On co-writer, pictured outside court
Both Sheeran and the song’s co-writer, Amy Wadge, gave evidence during the hearing, telling jurors they did not copy Let’s Get It On.
Sheeran said he and other performers frequently perform “mash ups” of songs and that on other occasions he had combined Thinking Out Loud with Van Morrison’s Crazy Love and Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You.
Gaye, who died in 1984, collaborated with Townsend, who died in 2003, to write Let’s Get It On, which topped the Billboard charts in the year it was released. It went on to appear in numerous films and adverts, and has garnered hundreds of millions of streams and radio plays in the past 50 years.
Sheeran, who is from Suffolk, is one of the most successful modern music stars in the world, and Thinking Out Loud, which won a Grammy for song of the year in 2016, is among his biggest hits.
The result in New York comes after the British star won a similar copyright case in the UK in 2022.
In that hearing, he was accused by two lesser-known songwriters of ripping off part of one of their songs for his huge 2017 hit Shape Of You. However, the judge ruled that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a hook from the song.
Following the ruling, Sheeran released a video statement hitting out at “baseless” copyright claims that are “damaging” to the industry.
Sheeran and his Thinking Out Loud co-writer Amy Wadge picked up the award for song of the year at the Grammys in 2016
It has been a difficult period for the star, who opened up about his mental health struggles as he released details of his latest album Divide earlier in 2022 – revealing that his wife was diagnosed with a tumour while she was pregnant and that he suffered “fear, depression and anxiety” as he dealt with her diagnosis as well as the death of his close friend Jamal Edwards.
Sheeran is also facing further claims about Thinking Out Loud in New York from a company that holds copyright interests in the Gaye song.
In 2015, Gaye’s heirs won a $5.3 million judgment from a lawsuit claiming the Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams song Blurred Lines copied Gaye’s Got To Give It Up.
Sir Keir Starmer has joined other European leaders in Kyiv to press Russia to agree an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
The prime minister is attending the summit alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, recently-elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
It is the first time the leaders of the four countries have travelled to Ukraine at the same time – arriving in the capital by train – with their meeting hosted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz travelling in the saloon car of a special train to Kyiv. Pic: Reuters
Leaders arrive in Kyiv by train. Pic: PA
It comes after Donald Trump called for “ideally” a 30-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, and warned that if any pause in the fighting is not respected “the US and its partners will impose further sanctions”.
Security and defence analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News presenter Samantha Washington the European leaders are “rowing in behind” the US president, who referred to his “European allies” for the first time in this context in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“So this meeting is all about heaping pressure on the Russians to go along with the American proposal,” he said.
“It’s the closest the Europeans and the US have been for about three months on this issue.”
Sir Keir Starmer, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron among world leaders in Kyiv. Pic: AP
Trump calls for ceasefire. Pic: Truth Social
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies are ready for a “full, unconditional ceasefire” for at least 30 days starting on Monday.
Ahead of the meeting on Saturday, Sir Keir, Mr Macron, Mr Tusk and Mr Merz released a joint statement.
European leaders show solidarity – but await Trump’s backing
The hope is Russia’s unilateral ceasefire, such as it’s worth, can be extended for a month to give peace a chance.
But ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian sources told Sky News they are still waiting for President Donald Trump to put his full weight behind the idea.
The US leader has said a 30-day ceasefire would be ideal, but has shown no willingness yet for putting pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin to agree.
The Russians say a ceasefire can only come after a peace deal can be reached.
European allies are still putting their hopes in a negotiated end to the war despite Moscow’s intransigence and President Trump’s apparent one-sided approach favouring Russia.
Ukrainians would prefer to be given enough economic and military support to secure victory.
But in over three years, despite its massive economic superiority to Russia and its access to more advanced military technology, Europe has not found the political will to give Kyiv the means to win.
Until they do, Vladimir Putin may decide it is still worth pursuing this war despite its massive cost in men and materiel on both sides.
“We reiterate our backing for President Trump’s calls for a peace deal and call on Russia to stop obstructing efforts to secure an enduring peace,” they said.
“Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.”
Sir Keir and Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in March. Pic: AP
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The leaders said they were “ready to support peace talks as soon as possible”.
But they warned that they would continue to “ratchet up pressure on Russia’s war machine” until Moscow agrees to a lasting ceasefire.
“We are clear the bloodshed must end, Russia must stop its illegal invasion, and Ukraine must be able to prosper as a safe, secure and sovereign nation within its internationally recognised borders for generations to come,” their statement added.
“We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine.”
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The European leaders are set to visit the Maidan, a central square in Ukraine’s capital where flags represent those who died in the war.
They are also expected to host a virtual meeting for other leaders in the “coalition of the willing” to update them on progress towards a peacekeeping force.
Military officers from around 30 countries have been involved in drawing up plans for a coalition, which would provide a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire being agreed between Russia and Ukraine.
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This force “would help regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces after any peace deal and strengthen confidence in any future peace”, according to Number 10.
A special constable has been jailed after taking pictures on his phone from bodycam footage showing a dying man.
Former police volunteer William Heggs, 23, was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment at Leicester Crown Court on Friday after showing the photos of victim William Harty, 28, to a female colleague and storing them on his Snapchat account.
Mr Harty was found seriously injured in a residential street in Leicester on 25 October 2021 and Heggs had attended the scene, helping with CPR before paramedics arrived.
Mr Harty died in hospital a day later and the man responsible for his injuries, his brother-in-law Martin Casey, was subsequently convicted of his manslaughter.
Heggs showed the pictures he had taken of bodycam footage of Mr Harty’s body to a Leicestershire Police constable, who reported Heggs and said she did not like seeing blood.
His phone was seized and officers discovered other photographs and video clips of bodyworn footage of incidents Heggs had attended on duty, including of a knife seizure, use of baton and pepper spray, and a man with an injured hand receiving first aid.
He also took pictures of a police computer screen, showing details of crimes and suspects, without consent.
Heggs stored the materials in a Snapchat folder and disclosed graphic details – most of which were not in the public domain – about the injuries to a woman who was killed in a road traffic collision he had attended, to a friend on the social media platform.
Heggs was suspended from the force in November 2021 and resigned in October 2024 before pleading guilty to 11 computer misuse and data protection offences this March.
William Harty’s widow Mandy Casey. Pic: PA
‘He has traumatised me’
Mr Harty’s widow, Mandy Casey, said in a victim impact statement read to the court that Heggs “took (her) husband’s dignity when he was most vulnerable”.
“You don’t take someone’s dignity and pride from them on their deathbed.”
She continued: “When I found out special constable Heggs had done this, I just wanted to ask why. He has traumatised me. I feel I will never know if he showed them to others.”
Ms Casey said she was still scared that photos of her husband’s body might appear on social media.
She added that she had lost trust in the police.
Public trust in police ‘significantly undermined’
Judge Timothy Spencer told Heggs, who has autism and ADHD, that he was “probably too immature to be working as a police officer” as he handed down the sentence.
He said Heggs had received “extensive training”, including on the importance of data protection, and knew he should only share materials for “a genuine policing purpose”.
Heggs’s actions had “significantly undermined” public trust and confidence in police, according to the judge.
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Malcolm McHaffie, from the Crown Prosecution Service, added: “William Heggs abused the public’s trust in the office he held as a special police constable.
“He violated the dignity of the deceased victims for no apparent reason other than what could be considered personal fascination and to gain credibility among his peers.”
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