{"id":1465,"date":"2025-08-18T22:54:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T14:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465"},"modified":"2025-08-18T22:54:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T14:54:32","slug":"ed-sheeran-clears-his-name-in-shocking-marvin-gaye-copyright-showdown-thinking-out-loud-declared-original","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465","title":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In a high-profile legal battle that had the music world on edge,&nbsp;<strong>Ed Sheeran<\/strong>&nbsp;emerged victorious in a copyright lawsuit over his hit song&nbsp;<strong>\u201cThinking Out Loud.\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;The case, brought by the daughter of&nbsp;<strong>Ed Townsend<\/strong>&nbsp;(co-writer of Marvin Gaye\u2019s 1973 classic&nbsp;<strong>\u201cLet\u2019s Get It On\u201d<\/strong>) and a music rights investment company, alleged that Sheeran\u2019s track bore \u201cstriking similarities\u201d to the iconic song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.abcnews.com\/images\/US\/sheeran-win_hpMain_20230504-135429.jpg\" alt=\"Ed Sheeran wins copyright infringement lawsuit involving 'Thinking Out  Loud' - ABC News\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>During the trial, Sheeran defended himself by performing on guitar, demonstrating how the chord progressions in&nbsp;<strong>\u201cThinking Out Loud\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;are common building blocks used throughout the music industry. His legal team argued that granting copyright protection over such basic musical elements would stifle creativity for artists everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/05\/04\/multimedia\/04sheeran-verdict-mqcz\/04sheeran-verdict-mqcz-mediumSquareAt3X.jpg\" alt=\"Ed Sheeran Found Not Liable in Copyright Trial Over Marvin Gaye's Song -  The New York Times\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After six days in court and only three hours of deliberation, the jury ruled in favor of Sheeran, agreeing that&nbsp;<strong>\u201cThinking Out Loud\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;was created independently and that any similarities were purely coincidental. The decision not only cleared Sheeran\u2019s name but also reinforced a crucial principle for the music industry: basic musical structures cannot be owned, and artists remain free to draw from them in their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/I5ekdRFumNC5g7B-SIMKk83Ce8k=\/1500x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x9:751x11)\/ed-sheeran-court-kathryn-townsend-050523-6289f85660dc4afb998a0ccfb58b7e9f.jpg\" alt=\"Ed Sheeran Wins Copyright Trial: What the Plaintiff Told Him in Court\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The verdict has been celebrated as a major win for musicians and songwriters worldwide, ensuring that creativity and innovation remain at the heart of music-making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a high-profile legal battle that had the music world on edge,&nbsp;Ed Sheeran&nbsp;emerged victorious in a copyright lawsuit over his hit song&nbsp;\u201cThinking Out Loud.\u201d&nbsp;The case, brought by the daughter of&nbsp;Ed Townsend&nbsp;(co-writer of Marvin Gaye\u2019s 1973 classic&nbsp;\u201cLet\u2019s Get It On\u201d) and a music rights investment company, alleged that Sheeran\u2019s track bore \u201cstriking similarities\u201d to the iconic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_food_recipe":[],"enable_food_recipe":"","food_recipe_title":"","food_recipe_description":"","food_recipe_serve":"","food_recipe_time":"","food_recipe_prep":"","food_recipe_level":"","food_recipe_keywords":"","food_recipe_category":"","food_recipe_cuisine":"","food_recipe_yield":"","food_recipe_calories":"","enable_print_recipe":"","ingredient":[],"instruction":"","jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original! - Rocking Dish<\/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:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original! - Rocking Dish\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a high-profile legal battle that had the music world on edge,&nbsp;Ed Sheeran&nbsp;emerged victorious in a copyright lawsuit over his hit song&nbsp;\u201cThinking Out Loud.\u201d&nbsp;The case, brought by the daughter of&nbsp;Ed Townsend&nbsp;(co-writer of Marvin Gaye\u2019s 1973 classic&nbsp;\u201cLet\u2019s Get It On\u201d) and a music rights investment company, alleged that Sheeran\u2019s track bore \u201cstriking similarities\u201d to the iconic [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rocking Dish\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-18T14:54:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-18T14:54:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-10-1024x683.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rocking Dish\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rocking Dish\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rocking Dish\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a0b3479d491ce4f00ac72556c0f46b06\"},\"headline\":\"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original!\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-18T14:54:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-18T14:54:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/image-10-scaled.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465\",\"name\":\"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original! - Rocking Dish\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/image-10-scaled.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-18T14:54:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-18T14:54:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a0b3479d491ce4f00ac72556c0f46b06\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/image-10-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/image-10-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?p=1465#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rocking Dish\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a0b3479d491ce4f00ac72556c0f46b06\",\"name\":\"Rocking Dish\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/62aba4369779c90a88774a34092640c13ecd5986ec02dec8cc6c5e2e90c0d7b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/62aba4369779c90a88774a34092640c13ecd5986ec02dec8cc6c5e2e90c0d7b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/62aba4369779c90a88774a34092640c13ecd5986ec02dec8cc6c5e2e90c0d7b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rocking Dish\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rockingdish.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original! - Rocking Dish","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:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original! - Rocking Dish","og_description":"In a high-profile legal battle that had the music world on edge,&nbsp;Ed Sheeran&nbsp;emerged victorious in a copyright lawsuit over his hit song&nbsp;\u201cThinking Out Loud.\u201d&nbsp;The case, brought by the daughter of&nbsp;Ed Townsend&nbsp;(co-writer of Marvin Gaye\u2019s 1973 classic&nbsp;\u201cLet\u2019s Get It On\u201d) and a music rights investment company, alleged that Sheeran\u2019s track bore \u201cstriking similarities\u201d to the iconic [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465","og_site_name":"Rocking Dish","article_published_time":"2025-08-18T14:54:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-18T14:54:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-10-1024x683.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Rocking Dish","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rocking Dish","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465"},"author":{"name":"Rocking Dish","@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a0b3479d491ce4f00ac72556c0f46b06"},"headline":"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original!","datePublished":"2025-08-18T14:54:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-18T14:54:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465"},"wordCount":232,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-10-scaled.png","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465","url":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465","name":"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original! - Rocking Dish","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-10-scaled.png","datePublished":"2025-08-18T14:54:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-18T14:54:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a0b3479d491ce4f00ac72556c0f46b06"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-10-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-10-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?p=1465#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ed Sheeran Clears His Name in Shocking Marvin Gaye Copyright Showdown \u2013 \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 Declared Original!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/","name":"Rocking Dish","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a0b3479d491ce4f00ac72556c0f46b06","name":"Rocking Dish","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62aba4369779c90a88774a34092640c13ecd5986ec02dec8cc6c5e2e90c0d7b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62aba4369779c90a88774a34092640c13ecd5986ec02dec8cc6c5e2e90c0d7b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62aba4369779c90a88774a34092640c13ecd5986ec02dec8cc6c5e2e90c0d7b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rocking Dish"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/rockingdish.com"],"url":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-10-scaled.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1467,"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions\/1467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockingdish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}