Experts explained how important Ed Sheeran's win in the copyright infringement trial is to the music industry.
Sheeran brought home the victory after the three-hour deliberation in the copyright infringement case involving his hit 2014 song, "Thinking Out Loud." The judge ultimately ruled that the song was not similar to Marvin Gaye's 1973 song, "Let's Get It On," in any way.
Music Copyright Experts Celebrate Ed Sheeran's Win
Following Sheeran's victorious moment in his career, music copyright experts said that the win is also a win for the music itself.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the experts shared how the recent development serves as a positive step for artists as it will "chill frivolous lawsuits" going forward. Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobassar Younger and Light's Audry Benoualid said Sheeran winning the case made people happy, especially since the past "Blurred Lines" case scared songwriters.
She added elsewhere in the article that the win for the "Photograph" hitmaker may be a positive sign for musicians and songwriters who are worried about the accusations of plagiarism.
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Meanwhile, Berklee College of Music's professor and forensic musicologist Joe Bennett said that the ruling pushed back the notion that artists could easily take ownership just because of similar chord progressions.
"Hopefully this could be the beginning of the end of these spurious lawsuits based on musical ignorance," Bennett said. "These cases are based on a glitch in music phenomenology. I get dozens of calls from hopeful plaintiffs every year telling me one of their melodies appears in a Justin Bieber song and he must've copied it, but that's just not true."
He added that such coincidences happen all the time.
Ed Sheeran Receives Support From Musicians
Following the Manhattan jury's ruling, musicians also spoke up for Sheeran and congratulated him on his success.
Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild, Niall Horan, and Armaan Malik, among others, thanked Sheeran for standing up while letting him know that "good people always win."
The recent case was not the first lawsuit he dealt with because of his music. Previously, he also won the case over his 2017 song, "Shape of You," after he was accused of copying part of Sami Chokri's "Oh Why."
In the April 2022 case, Sheeran slammed the culture of baseless lawsuits in the music industry that are damaging the songwriting industry.
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