\n
Testimony wrapped up in the\u00a0Ed Sheeran\u00a0copyright infringement trial at the end of the court day Wednesday, as the judge sent the Manhattan jury into deliberations with a pointed admonition: \u201cIndependent creation is a complete defence, no matter how similar that song is.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton\u2019s instructions may have left a high bar in the jury\u2019s minds for just how much evidence the plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys needed to have established to prove that Sheeran and his co-writer actually copied\u00a0Marvin Gaye\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Get It On\u201d when they wrote the pop hit \u201cThinking Out Loud.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to\u00a0Insider, Stanton told jurors that the lawyers for the heirs of Gaye\u2019s co-writer, Ed Townsend, needed to \u201cprove by a preponderance of the evidence\u2026 that Sheeran actually copied and wrongfully copied \u2018Let\u2019s Get It On\u2019\u201d \u2014 as opposed to the coincidental, negligible similarities argued by Sheeran\u2019s attorneys.<\/p>\n
Even though the clock had passed 5 p.m., the judge asked jurors to immediately begin discussing the case behind closed doors, saying that \u201cit\u2019s good for them to get a little bit of deliberations in\u201d and reassuring everyone involved that \u201cwe\u2019re not going to spend the night.\u201d<\/p>\n
The jurors\u2019 time together lasted well under an hour before they were dismissed and asked to return Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
In closing arguments, Sheeran attorney Ilene Farkas referred back to the other side\u2019s contention that the singer\u2019s concert mashup of the two songs constituted \u201ca smoking gun\u201d and \u201ca confession.\u201d Said Farkas, according to the\u00a0New York Post, \u201cHe did a mashup one night. That\u2019s a plaintiff\u2019s confession, their smoking gun?\u2026 Simply put: the plaintiff\u2019s \u2018smoking gun\u2019 was shooting blanks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only do we have a smoking gun, but we have bullets for that smoking gun,\u201d said Ben Crump, an attorney for the plaintiffs, as both sides did their best to thoroughly exhaust the metaphor.<\/p>\n
There were amusing moments during the closing day of testimony, news accounts suggest. After Sheeran had previously said in court that \u201cThinking Out Loud\u201d was more akin to Van Morrison\u2019s style than the Gaye tune, the comparisons got less high-minded on Thursday, as a debate erupted over a different song that had several different versions played in the courtroom: the fluffy 1960s hit \u201cGeorgy Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Lawrence Ferrara, an expert musicologist called by Sheeran\u2019s team to counter one brought in earlier by the plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers, said that \u201cGeorgy Girl\u201d shares a similar chord progression and \u201canticipated\u201d rhythm with both \u201cLet\u2019s Get It On\u201d and \u201cThinking Out Loud,\u201d while having come out years before either of them.<\/p>\n
He played Muzak-style versions of the single performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra and the 101 Strings Orchestra to reinforce his points.<\/p>\n
Ferrara also cited two other songs that share the chord progressions that are in contention: the Contours\u2019 early \u201960s hit \u201cDo You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)\u201d and a lesser-known cover of the Temptations\u2019 \u201cSince I Lost My Baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawyer for Townsend\u2019s heirs countered that the progression must indeed be rare if Ferrara was having to resort to obscure records to make the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoesn\u2019t that suggest that \u2018Let\u2019s Get It On\u2019 is rather novel, or unique?\u201d asked attorney Patrick R. Frank in his cross-examination of the musicologist, saying Ferrar had had to go to \u201cextreme lengths\u201d to find similar songs to cite.<\/p>\n
Ferrara responded that, to classic pop fans, \u201cGeorgy Girl\u201d is not obscure, but said the point is moot anyway: \u201cWhat matters is that \u2018LGO\u2019 (\u2018Let\u2019s Get It On\u2019) did not do it first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the case was left with the jury, Farkas\u00a0told the jurors\u00a0that similarities in chords or rhythm \u2014 versus melody and lyrics \u2014 were \u201cthe letters of the alphabet of music\u2026These are basic musical building blocks that songwriters now and forever must be free to use, or all of us who love music will be poorer for it,\u201d Farkas said.<\/p>\n
Keisha Rice, another attorney for the plaintiffs, argued in return that the case hinged on \u201cthe way in which these common elements were uniquely combined.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Sheeran\u2019s final turn on the stand a day earlier, he said that if the plaintiffs prevailed in their attempts to not only win a financial victory but restrain him from performing his hit song again, it would have a chilling effect on all songwriters, and possibly cause him to quit. \u201cIf that happens, I\u2019m done \u2014 I\u2019m stopping,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sheeran had said in Tuesday\u2019s proceedings that he considered the testimony by the plaintiffs\u2019 musicologist, Alexander Stewart, to be beyond the pale. \u201cI think what he\u2019s doing here is criminal,\u201d the singer said.<\/p>\n
In Wednesday\u2019s closing statement, Crump told the jury not to be \u201ccharmed\u201d by the pop star and said his threats to quit the business if he lost were pure courtroom theatre. \u201cThat\u2019s simply a threat to play with your emotions,\u201d Crump said, per the Post, adding that he could \u201cpromise he won\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThinking Out Loud\u201d won the Song of the Year Grammy in 2016.<\/p>\n
Townsend\u2019s heirs filed their copyright suit about six months later; between the pandemic and standard legal delays, it did not go to trial until the beginning of last week.<\/p>\n
DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Testimony wrapped up in the\u00a0Ed Sheeran\u00a0copyright infringement trial at the end of the court day Wednesday, as the judge sent the Manhattan jury into deliberations with a pointed admonition: \u201cIndependent creation is a complete defence, no matter how similar that song is.\u201d U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton\u2019s instructions may have left a high bar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"\n
Ed Sheeran's copyright trial goes into deliberations\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ed Sheeran's copyright trial goes into deliberations\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Testimony wrapped up in the\u00a0Ed Sheeran\u00a0copyright infringement trial at the end of the court day Wednesday, as the judge sent the Manhattan jury into deliberations with a pointed admonition: \u201cIndependent creation is a complete defence, no matter how similar that song is.\u201d U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton\u2019s instructions may have left a high bar […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-04T20:12:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-243.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/\",\"name\":\"Ed Sheeran's copyright trial goes into deliberations\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-243.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-04T20:12:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-04T20:12:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-243.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-243.png\",\"width\":976,\"height\":549},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ed Sheeran’s copyright trial goes into deliberations\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/author\/ghanamma\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ed Sheeran's copyright trial goes into deliberations\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ed Sheeran's copyright trial goes into deliberations\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"Testimony wrapped up in the\u00a0Ed Sheeran\u00a0copyright infringement trial at the end of the court day Wednesday, as the judge sent the Manhattan jury into deliberations with a pointed admonition: \u201cIndependent creation is a complete defence, no matter how similar that song is.\u201d U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton\u2019s instructions may have left a high bar […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2023-05-04T20:12:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":976,"height":549,"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-243.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/","name":"Ed Sheeran's copyright trial goes into deliberations\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-243.png","datePublished":"2023-05-04T20:12:22+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-04T20:12:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-243.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-243.png","width":976,"height":549},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/04\/ed-sheerans-copyright-trial-goes-into-deliberations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ed Sheeran’s copyright trial goes into deliberations\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/6f91dab2e50bbbfe895c93e7e84e7f74","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-243.png\")
<\/p>\n