#SONG I NEED YOU TRIAL#

Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify,' Sheeran said in a video last year after he won a trial in the United Kingdom over a separate copyright-infringement claim related to his 2017 hit, 'Shape of You.' What have Townsend's heirs said? 'There's only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. More broadly, Sheeran has expressed frustration with the growing number of copyright-infringement claims brought against artists and called it 'really damaging for the songwriting industry.'

'If I had done what you're accusing me of doing, I'd be a quite an idiot to stand on a stage in front of 20,000 people and do that.' 'You could go from 'Let it Be' to 'No Woman, No Cry' and switch back,' Sheeran testified Tuesday during the trial, according to Reuters. He argues that many pop songs use the same chord progression he is now accused of copying in 'Thinking Out Loud.' Sheeran says that he and his co-writer Amy Wadge did not copy Gaye's song. To establish copyright infringement, it's not enough to prove that the songs sound similar, Jacques said - 'the plaintiffs must establish that the defendant actually copied the plaintiff's work.' What has Sheeran said about the creation of 'Thinking Out Loud'?

The jury will have to decide if the two songs are substantially similar and whether the elements they have in common are protected under copyright law, Sabine Jacques, an expert in music copyright at the University of East Anglia, said in an email. The complaint claims that the video is evidence that Sheeran himself 'acknowledged the musical import of Let's as a forebear and/or musical foundation for Thinking.' In it, Sheeran 'transitions seamlessly' between the two songs onstage.īut in court, Sheeran retorted that it was 'quite simple to weave in and out of songs' that have similar musical elements, according to the Associated Press. Lawyers for the plaintiff played the court a video on Tuesday that shows Sheeran performing a medley of 'Let's Get It On' and 'Thinking Out Loud' at a concert. The case mostly revolves around a chord progression that is found in both 'Let's Get It On' and 'Thinking Out Loud' - but also, as Sheeran and his lawyers have argued, in many other pop songs. This means that only certain elements of the song are protected by copyright, said McDonagh. Townsend's heirs accuse Sheeran of copying 'harmonic progressions, melodic and rhythmic elements' that are the 'heart' of 'Let's Get It On.'īecause 'Let's Get It On' was written before 1978, the sheet music - and not a sound recording - was submitted to the Copyright Office. What part of 'Thinking Out Loud' do plaintiffs claim is copied from 'Let's Get It On'? They argue that the two songs are distinct. Sheeran and his lawyers say it's normal for songs of certain genres to have similarities, and that one artist cannot claim ownership over a commonplace musical element. Townsend's daughter, sister and the estate of his former wife claim in their complaint that Sheeran in 'Thinking Out Loud' copied important musical elements of 'Let's Get It On' and unjustly profited from it. Why is Ed Sheeran in court?Įd Sheeran is in court because heirs of Eric Townsend - who largely wrote 'Let's Get It On' and owned two-thirds of the royalties for the song when he died in 2003 - are accusing the British artist of infringing on the copyright. Here's what you need to know about the trial.

Song i need you