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.
Ednews reports citing the Star that Heirs of Gaye's co-writer, Ed Townsend, argue that Sheeran, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Publishing owe them money for allegedly stealing the song.
As the case opened, a lawyer called Sheeran's use of Gaye's lyrics at his concerts a "smoking gun".
The Grammy winner, 32, testified that he did not copy from Gaye's 1973 hit.
Asked by lawyer Keisha Rice about another song he wrote, Take it Back, which contains the lyrics "plagiarism is hidden", Sheeran confirmed that he had written the words.
"Those are my lyrics, yep," he said, adding: "Can I give some context to them?"
She said that if she wanted any context she would ask for it, and went on to ask him about concert footage recorded in Zurich showing him mixing lyrics from Gaye's song with Thinking Out Loud.