New York (CNN) The jury in Ed Sheeran’s copyright infringement case — on whether Sheeran’s single “Thinking Out Loud” copied Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On” — deliberated for five minutes Wednesday night before the judge sent the jury away. to their homes.
The jury sent a note to the judge requesting that deliberations be halted for the night and the judge granted this request around 5:10 p.m.
The jury is expected to continue its deliberations Thursday morning at 10 a.m., and Judge Louis Stanton told members of the jury that’s fine, but he won’t be back in court until 10:30 a.m.
If the jury determines that Sheeran is responsible for the copyright infringement, the trial will move to a second phase to determine damages.
The family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote “Let’s Get It On” with Gaye, has accused Sheeran of copying the 1973 song.
The plaintiffs claimed similarities between the chord progression, harmonic rhythm, and certain melodies in the two songs. Sheeran’s legal team argued that the melodies are different and that the elements used in both songs are common in pop music.
Earlier, a lawyer representing the family suing Sheeran asked the jury on Wednesday not to be “blinded by famous celebrities.”
“Mr. Sheeran is counting on you to be so overwhelmed with his commercial success,” attorney Keisha Rice said in her closing argument on Wednesday.
She claimed it was “more likely” that Sheeran did not independently compose his Grammy-winning song “Thinking Out Loud”.
At times during the closing Rice debate, Sheeran was seen shaking his head “no” and holding his head in his hands.
Defense attorney Elaine Farkas said in her closing argument that Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wedge did not think of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” on the day they wrote their song.
“They didn’t copy it — not consciously, not unconsciously, not at all,” Farkas said.
She claimed that any similarities between the two songs are “essential to all songwriters’ toolkit, including Ed and Amy”.
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