British musician Ed Sheeran, who on Thursday won a civil lawsuit filed in New York for plagiarizing a song by American Marvin Gaye, said he was “very happy” about his victory against a “baseless” complaint, AFP and Reuters reported.

In a statement after leaving federal court in Manhattan, the 32-year-old King of Pop also said he was “incredibly disappointed” that such a landmark music copyright case “could go to trial.”

A jury in Manhattan federal court is set to convene to determine whether Ed Sheeran’s 2014 global hit “Thinking Out Loud” plagiarized the Prince of Soul’s famous 1973 song “Let’s Get It On.”

The plaintiffs in this landmark music copyright case are the estates of Ed Townsend, an American musician and record producer who co-wrote the song with Marvin Gaye.

They cited the “striking similarity and obvious commonality” between the two songs.

It is the second trial in a year for the 32-year-old British singer-songwriter, who won another legal battle at London’s High Court in April 2022, which dismissed a lawsuit by two musicians who accused him of copying one of their works for his mega-hit “Shape Of You”.

Guitar in court

Sheeran, who has been attending hearings in New York since April 24, even got to play guitar and sing in court as a goodwill gesture.

A musicologist cited by the prosecution said the chords of the two songs were almost identical.

Therefore, the pop musician played the four key chords of the song “Thinking Out Loud” in the courtroom, making sure that they are very different from the chords of the song “Let’s Get It On”.

The British artist also revealed that he wrote his 2014 hit with Amy Wedge “from the shower” at home. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for Best Song in 2016.

Experts fear that the risk of Sheeran’s lawsuit is that copyright disputes will spread and a form of “paranoia” will develop among musicians who are afraid of copying each other.