British pop star Ed Sheeran wins 'Thinking Out Loud' copyright case

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - A US court has ruled that Ed Sheeran did not copy Marvin Gaye's 1973 classic Let's Get It On when writing his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud.

The British singer-songwriter had denied "stealing elements" of his 2014 song Thinking Out Loud as Gaye's side claimed that Sheeran, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Publishing owed them money for copyright infringement.

Sheeran had said he would give up his career if found guilty at the trial in New York: "If that happens, I'm done, I'm stopping."

Following the trial on Thursday, Sheeran said that he is "obviously very happy."

"It looks like I'm not going to have to retire from my day job after all ... but at the same time, I am absolutely frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all," he added.

Sheeran stated that if the jury had taken decision in another way, they might say "goodbye to the creative freedom of songwriters."

"I am not and will never allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake," he added.

Sheeran was accused of copying Gaye's 1973 classic Let's Get It On for his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud and a lawsuit was filed by heirs of Gaye co-writer Ed Townsend, who sued Sheeran for copyright infringement in 2017.