Ed Sheeran wins in Let's Get it On copyright trial

US jury finds that British pop performer did not unlawfully copy Marvin Gaye classic

Ed Sheeran at his copyright infringement hearing at Manhattan Federal Court on May 4. AFP

British pop superstar Ed Sheeran's 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud did not unlawfully copy Marvin Gaye's classic 1973 song Let's Get it On, a jury in Manhattan Federal Court decided on Thursday.

The jury determined that heirs of Let's Get it On songwriter Ed Townsend had not proven that Sheeran, his label Warner Music Group and his music publisher Sony Music had infringed their copyright interest in the Gaye song.

Townsend's heirs sued Sheeran for copyright infringement in 2017, contending that Thinking Out Loud copied the "heart" of Gaye's song, including its melody, harmony and rhythm.

Sheeran's lawyers said any similarities between the songs involved basic musical "building blocks" that cannot be copyrighted.

Testifying during the trial, he denied the copyright infringement claims.

"I find it really insulting to devote my whole life to being a performer and a songwriter and have someone diminish it," Sheeran told the jury.

On the witness stand, he played the chord progression to Thinking Out Loud and sang the opening words: "When your legs don't work like they used to."

Sheeran testified that his friend and collaborator Amy Wadge first started strumming the chords for the song during a visit to his home in England, and that they worked together on the lyrics.

Ben Crump, a lawyer representing the heirs, told jurors that Sheeran effectively confessed to ripping off Gaye's song when he performed it live in concert as a medley with Thinking Out Loud.

Sheeran testified that singers frequently perform such "mash-ups," and that he had on other occasions combined his song 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.

Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud peaked at No 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2015.

The plaintiffs asked for a share of the profits from Thinking Out Loud.

The heirs said in a court filing that they received 22 per cent of the writer's share of Gaye's song from Townsend.

Sheeran won a trial in London last year in a separate copyright case over his hit Shape of You.

Gaye's heirs won an important verdict in 2015 when a jury in Los Angeles agreed with the claims that the Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams song Blurred Lines copied Gaye's Got to Give it Up.