Ed Sheeran.Photo: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty
TakeEd Sheeraninto your loving arms, because he’s in the clear after another copyright lawsuit over his 2014 single “Thinking Out Loud” was reportedly dismissed.
Per the outlet, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton ruled that the elements allegedly lifted from “Let’s Get It On” for “Thinking Out Loud” were too common to be protected under copyright law. The same judge presided over the jury trial where Sheeran, 32, was found not liable for alleged copyright infringement on Gaye’s 1973 song earlier this month.
Ed Sheeran.Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty
“I feel like the truth was heard and the truth was believed,” the Grammy winner told PEOPLE exclusively in the courthouse following the decision. “It’s nice that we can both move on with our lives now — it’s sad that it had to come to this.”
Ed Sheeran.Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images
After the verdict was read, the musician hugged his legal team and co-writer Amy Wadge, then approached plaintiff Kathryn Griffin Townsend — daughter of the “Let’s Get It On” co-writer — and the two smiled and talked before exchanging hugs. As he exited the courtroom, Sheeran embraced and kissed wife Cherry Seaborn, who was in attendance.
At one point during the trial, Sheeranwas asked what he would doif the court finds “Thinking Out Loud” to be too similar to “Let’s Get It On.”
“If that happens, I’m done, I’m stopping,” Sheeran said.
Amy Wadge and Ed Sheeran.Christopher Polk/Getty
In an interview with PEOPLE following the verdict, Wadge said she felt similarly. “Truthfully, I know Ed had said what he said about quitting music. I had said it myself, just how awful it was to feel that we all want to create music that touches the world and that the risk of that [is] if I was to create of pieces of work that maybe did the same as ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ I could expect this to happen again,” she said at the time.
After the trial’s conclusion, she spoke about feeling “relieved,” “very emotional” and ready to move on with her career: “You’re told ‘Just tell the truth,’ and that’s what we did, and we’ve got the conclusion that we could have only hoped for.”
source: people.com
