British singer Ed Sheeran has appeared in a New York City court to deny that his song ”Thinking Out Loud” copied Marvin Gaye’s song ”Let’s Get it On”.
Heirs of Gaye’s co-writer, Ed Townsend is demanding money from Sheeran, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Publishing for allegedly stealing the song.
As the case opened, their lawyer called Sheeran’s use of lyrics from Gaye’s song at his concerts a “smoking gun”.
Ed Sheeran said he would “be a quite an idiot” to do that if he had copied the song.
Sheeran also confirmed that he had written the of ‘Take it back’, himself.
Ed Sheeran was also asking about concert footage recorded in Zurich showing him mixing lyrics frygom Gaye’s 1973 song.
BBC reports that the trial is expected to last at least one week. If the jury finds the pop star liable for copyright infringement, the trial will enter a second phase to determine how much he owes.
Writing by Chinasa Ossai; Editing by Annabel Nwachukwu