Ed Sheeran has opened up about having his day in court and what Kathryn Townsend told him after their legal battle ended.
The 32-year-old had been accused of copying parts of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 track, Let’s Get It On, for his hit, Thinking Out Loud – something he denied.
He was taken to court by the family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the track in 1973, where a jury found in his favor on Thursday.
Appearing on the Elvis Duran Morning Show earlier today, the Shape Of You musician discussed his victory, and revealed his interaction with the Townsend family after the verdict was read out.
‘The one thing that felt like the biggest win for me was afterwards, Kathryn [Townsend Griffin], her family and everyone came up to me, hugged me and said, “We believe you,”’ he said.
‘It’s never a nice thing, winning and someone else losing, but walking away from it knowing that I did the right thing and that they believed me was, I think, the biggest win.
‘On both sides it takes a massive toll. Both personally and financially, but it’s about heart and integrity, and that’s why I fought it.
‘I can’t be accused of something that I didn’t do. So, I had to prove that.’
Gaye released Let’s Get It On in 1973, while Sheeran released his own song in 2014.
Three years later, Townsend’s family launched a lawsuit against the Grammy-winner, his label and his music publisher, alleging that he had infringed on their interest in Gaye’s song by copying the ‘heart’ of it – relating to the ‘harmonic progressions, melodic and rhythmic elements’.
Sheeran argued that any similarities heard were likely basic music ‘building blocks’ that are ineligible for copyright protection.
Throughout the trial, jurors heard from industry experts, while the Grammy-winner also took to the stand and even performed his song in the courtroom.
At one point, he reportedly vowed to walk away from the music industry altogether if he was found liable.
Speaking outside the court, he told ‘I’m obviously very happy with the outcome of this case and it looks like I’m not going to have to retire from my day job after all,’ he said.
‘But at the same time I am absolutely frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.
‘If the jury had decided this matter the other way we might as well say goodbye to the creative freedom of songwriters.
‘We need to be able to write our original music and engage in independent creativity without worrying at every step on the way that said creativity will be wrongly called into question.’
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