Ed Sheeran.Photo: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty

Musician Ed Sheeran arrives at federal court in New York, US, on Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Sheeran will have to convince a New York federal jury that his 2014 hit song “Thinking Out Loud” didn’t copy from Marvin Gaye’s classic soul groove “Let’s Get It On,” the latest trial in an increasingly litigious music industry. Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ed Sheeran’s fourth day in court included a live performance and a detailed reflection of his career as a songwriter as he defended his musical abilities amidst a $100 million copyright case against him.

“If a song takes longer than a day, it’s not worth pursuing,” Sheeran said.

The “Shape of You” singer said the creation of “Thinking Out Loud,” was a “very collaborative” process between him and co-writer Amy Wadge. Sheeran recalled being inspired to create the song after hearing Wadge “mumbling” the chords as he got ready to go to dinner and said he knew they needed to write a song to them.

John Lamparski/Getty

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 25: Ed Sheeran arrives in federal court for a music copyright trial in New York on April 25, 2023 in New York City. Sheeran is being sued for copyright-infringement by the heirs of writer and composer Ed Townsend. He is accused of copying Marvin Gaye’s legendary R&B song “Let’s Get It On” in his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud.” (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)

The organization took up the claim the family had dismissed previously, claiming that melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, instrumental, and dynamic elements in “Thinking Out Loud” were taken from Gaye’s song,TMZreported.

In September, a Manhattan federal judge ruled that ajury would be needed to resolve the copyright case, clearing the way for further legal action against the singer-songwriter.

“There is no bright-line rule that the combination of two unprotectable elements is insufficiently numerous to constitute an original work,” Judge Louis Stanton said, according toBillboard. “A work may be copyrightable even though it is entirely a compilation of unprotectable elements.”

The copyright case is not the first major legal trouble the “Eyes Closed” singer has run into. Last year, he wasawarded over $1 million in legal costsafter winning a plagiarism lawsuit filed against his hit song “Shape of You.”

After being locked in a legal battle for years with Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, a pair of songwriters who claimed that the 2017 mega-hit ripped off their track “Oh Why,” Sheeran and his two co-writers, Steve McCutcheon and Johnny McDaid were cleared of any such plagiarism in April 2022.

A judge ruled that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied ‘Oh Why’ while writing ‘Shape of You.'”

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After winning the lawsuit, Sheeran posted a video onInstagramsharing his satisfaction with the result, but also hisfear of the possible ripple effects the case could have on the songwriting industry.

“I feel like claims like this are way too common now, and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there’s no base for a claim,” he said. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry. There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify.”

He continued, “I don’t want to take anything away from the pain and hurt suffered from both sides of this case, but I just want to say I’m not an entity, I’m not a corporation. I’m a human being, I’m a father, I’m a husband, I’m a son. Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience, and I hope that this ruling, it means that in the future, baseless claims like this can be avoided. This really does have to end.”

source: people.com