After winning his copyright trial, Ed Sheeran is feeling confident about his original songwriting abilities.
On Thursday, a jury found the British singer-songwriter not liable in a lawsuit filed against him by Structured Asset Sales for allegedly infringing copyright on the Marvin Gaye classic “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 single “Thinking Out Loud.”
In an interview on The Elvis Duran Morning Show on Friday, Sheeran detailed his interaction with plaintiff Kathryn Griffin Townsend, daughter of “Let’s Get It On” co-writer Ed Townsend, in the courtroom following the verdict. (Structured purchased a third of the shares of the song from the family of Townsend in 2018.)
“The one thing that felt like the biggest win for me was afterwards, Kathryn, her family and everyone came up to me, hugged me and said, ‘We believe you,'” said the 32-year-old Grammy winner.
Sheeran continued, “It’s never a nice thing, winning and someone else losing, but walking away from it knowing that I did the right thing and that they believed me was, I think, the biggest win.”
He also spoke about his motivation behind choosing to go through with the trial. “On both sides it takes a massive toll, both personally and financially, but it’s about heart and integrity, and that’s why I fought it,” said the “Shivers” performer. “I can’t be accused of something that I didn’t do. So, I had to prove that.”
After the verdict was read, the musician hugged his legal team and co-writer Amy Wadge, then approached Griffin Townsend and the two smiled and talked before exchanging hugs. As he exited the courtroom, Sheeran embraced and kissed wife Cherry Seaborn, who was in attendance.
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“I feel like the truth was heard and the truth was believed,” Sheeran told PEOPLE in the courthouse following the decision. “It’s nice that we can both move on with our lives now — it’s sad that it had to come to this.”
The unanimous verdict was reached after about three hours of deliberation by seven jurors in a New York City courtroom at the end of the trial, which went on for more than a week.