Ed Sheeran Appears in Court Over ‘Thinking Out Loud’ Plagiarism Lawsuit
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Singer Ed Sheeran appeared in court in New York this week as part of a plagiarism trial over his song “Thinking Out Loud.” Sheeran has been accused of copying Marvin Gaye’s song “Let’s Get It On.” The singer reportedly played guitar in the courtroom as he explained his songwriting process.
Ed Sheeran Appears in Court for Plagiarism Case
The family of Marvin Gaye’s co-writer Ed Townsend has accused Sheeran of copying parts of the 1973 song “Let’s Get It On” in his 2014 release “Thinking Out Loud.” Although the initial case was dismissed, Sheeran is now being sued for $100 million.
According to the BBC, Sheeran spent about an hour in court this week talking about his career and performing parts of “Thinking Out Loud” in the courtroom. He explained that he wrote the song with Amy Wadge, starting with the phrase “I’m singing out now,” which was changed into “thinking out loud.”
At one point, the singer apparently told the courtroom, “I’m not the world’s most talented guitar player.”
Sheeran reportedly played the song’s chord progression and sang the opening words, sharing that the lyrics were inspired by his grandparents’ relationship, his grandfather’s recent death, and a new romance. He also talked about his quick process, saying he can write up to nine songs in a day.
SEE ALSO: ED SHEERAN JOINS A NEW YORK SUBWAY SINGER MID-SONG FOR AN EPIC DUET
This Isn’t Sheeran’s First Plagiarism Case
This isn’t the first time Sheeran has been accused of plagiarism in his music. In 2017, he settled out of court over claims that he copied Matt Cardle’s song “Amazing” with his 2014 track “Photograph.”
Then last year, Sheeran won a copyright lawsuit over claims he plagiarized part of his 2017 song “Shape of You” from Sam Chokri’s track “Oh Why.” A judge ruled that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied” Chokri’s song.
“There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music,” Sheeran said in an Instagram video after the lawsuit was dismissed. “Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify. That’s 22 million songs a year. And there’s only 12 notes that are available.”
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