25 April 2023 , 20:35
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Ed Sheeran insisted "those are my lyrics" as he took to the stand in his latest legal battle.
The singer appeared at Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday to defend himself against a claim he copied parts of Marvin Gaye's hit Let's Get It On to use on his own track Thinking Out Loud.
The 32-year-old is being sued by the heirs of the late Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the song with Gaye.
They are claiming that Sheeran should share the wealth from the profits of his 2014 track.
While being questioned by Keisha Rice, a lawyer for Townsend's heirs, Sheeran was asked about his song Take It Back which contains the lyric "plagiarism is hidden".
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Ed Sheeran has testified in court (Getty Images)"Those are my lyrics, yep," Ed responded before asking if he could "give some context to them".
The lawyer said she would ask if she needed more context.
Ed was then questioned about a video from one of his concerts during which he performed a mashup of Thinking Out Loud with Let's Get It On.
The musician explained how he sometimes mixed songs with similar chords at his gigs, but was cut off by Rice.
According to Reuters, Ed said: "I feel like you don't want me to answer because you know that what I'm going to say is actually going to make quite a lot of sense."
He was earlier seen arriving at the courthouse (Brittainy Newman/AP/REX/Shutterstock)Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing heirs of Ed Townsend, had earlier given his opening statement and focused on how Sheeran had merged the two songs in concert.
He said this was equivalent to a "confession".
"We have a smoking gun," he said while announcing the jurors will see footage from the concert.
According to the Associated Press, Crump said the legal battle is all about "giving credit where credit is due".
Ed's lawyer, Ilene Farkas, insisted that Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge wrote their song independently and did not steal from Townsend and Gaye.
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The trial could last up to two weeks (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)She said they "created this heartfelt song without copying Let’s Get It On".
Sheeran's lawyer said the chord progression and basic music building blocks in Thinking Out Loud are used frequently.
The lawsuit was filed in 2017 has finally made it to a trial which is expected to last up to two weeks in the Manhattan federal courtroom.
If the jury finds Sheeran liable for copyright infringement, the trial will enter a second phase to determine how much he and his labels owe in damages. The trial continues.