'Thinking Out Loud' by Ed Sheeran is the winner in a copyright infringement lawsuit.

 ByAaron Katersky and Meredith Deliso

(Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

A copyright infringement action involving the Grammy-winning song "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran and the timeless "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye has been dismissed.

After a trial in which Sheeran performed live guitar and vocals in the courtroom, a Manhattan jury concluded that the musician had not engaged in willful copyright infringement.

After deliberating for around three hours, the jury decided.

When the verdict was announced, Sheeran, who was sitting at the defense table between his attorneys in a suit and tie, hugged them.

"I'm certainly thrilled with how the case turned out. Furthermore, it appears that I won't have to give up my day job after all, Sheeran told the media outside the courthouse. But at the same time, I find it incredibly frustrating that such flimsy charges can even be brought up in court.

Following the verdict, the plaintiffs chose not to speak to the media outside the courthouse.

The family of "Let's Get It On" song co-writer Ed Townsend had accused Sheeran of stealing the song's music sheet.

Ben Crump, a well-known civil rights lawyer who is representing the plaintiffs, stated during opening statements in federal court in Manhattan that the case is about "giving credit where credit is due."

The 2014 song "Thinking Out Loud" was inspired by the 1973 soul classic "Let's Get It On," which according to Crump has become a "cornerstone" of the American experience. The lawsuit says that Sheeran stole the beat, chord sequence, and other aspects for his 2014 song "Thinking Out Loud" without permission.

As stated by Crump, Sheeran "recognized the magic of 'Let's Get It On'" and violated its copyright for the song that brought him his first Grammy.

While this was going on, the defense claimed that Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge "independently created" the song "Thinking Out Loud."

Their song was the result of a tearful chat, according to Sheeran's attorney, Ilene Farkas. It was a unique creation of theirs.

Sheeran testified throughout the trial, occasionally singing and playing the guitar.

The singer attempted to show how typical the four-chord progression for his popular song "Thinking Out Loud" was by playing a guitar mash-up of his songs and Marvin Gaye's.

When discussing the recording of "Thinking Out Loud" with Wadge, Sheeran also gave a portion of the song a brief performance.

He claimed that because of the similarities and influences Sheeran claimed the Northern Irish singer offered, his producers started referring to "Thinking Out Loud" as Sheeran's Van Morrison song.

Farkas said during her closing argument that Sheeran was "unjustly accused" of plagiarizing from "Let's Get It On" and that the case should never have been filed.

Farkas told the jury that if Sheeran was found guilty, "creativity will be stifled for fear of being sued," adding that "we all benefit from artists being free to create and to build on what came before them."

A videotape of Sheeran fusing "Thinking Out Loud" and "Let's Get It On" during a concert, according to Crump, is their "smoking gun" and proves the similarity infringes. The plaintiffs played a video of Ed Sheeran doing a musical mashup of the two songs.

Following the watching, Sheeran took the witness stand and said to the jury, "If I had done what you're accusing me of doing, I'd be quite an idiot to stand on stage in front of 25,000 people."

Juror Sophia Neis told reporters outside the courthouse on Thursday that the jury "thought long and hard" about the topics posed to them.

Finally, according to Neis, "we arrived at what we thought was the right interpretation of the law that we were given."

In 2017, Townsend's heirs filed a lawsuit against Sheeran, Warner Music, and Sony Music Publishing.

The music of either man has been the subject of copyright disputes before. Sheeran won a copyright infringement case involving "Shape of You" last year, while Marvin Gaye's heirs, who are not parties to this current action, won a case involving "Got to Give it Up" against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams in 2015.