Ed Sheeran reflects on copyright trial for allegedly stealing Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’

British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has talked candidly about his emotional experience during the well-publicized copyright infringement trial, in which he was charged with stealing parts of Marvin Gaye’s iconic hit song “Let’s Get It On” for his own song “Thinking Out Loud.”

Sheeran recently talked about how hard it was to defend his creative integrity during the trial, calling it “draining” and “frustrating.” The heirs of Gaye’s co-writer Ed Townsend filed the complaint, claiming that Sheeran’s song was strikingly similar to the 1973 soul smash.

Throughout the trial, Sheeran insisted that any similarity was accidental and stemmed from shared musical elements. In the end, the jury found in his favor, absolving him of any misconduct.

Sheeran reflected on the experience and said that although the lawsuit affected him both emotionally and professionally, he is happy that justice was served.

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Additionally, he expressed worries about the potential harm that such lawsuits could do to songwriting and creativity in the music business, cautioning that “if this becomes the norm, it stifles the future of music.”

Referring to his copyright trial, he said, ‘’The judge ordered me to give up my old devices to the other lawyers for them to go through all my text messages and emails and photos and stuff like that.

‘’And in that process I switched on a phone that I had not looked at in 10 years, and it was like looking into the past, and it was conversations with people who had passed away.

The singer continued: ‘There was arguments with an ex-girlfriend; there was, you know, text messages and pictures from people that I haven’t seen or spoken to in, in 10 years, and I wrote this song about it called Old phone.’

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