Ed Sheeran has praised a US court for siding with him in a copyright trial, hailing the decision as one "that will help protect the creative process".

The singer had been taken to court by the heirs of Ed Townsend, the songwriter who composed the 1973 anthem 'Let's Get It On', which they claimed had been the basis for Sheeran's song 'Thinking Out Loud'.

“I'm obviously very happy with the outcome of the case and it looks like I'm not having to retire from my day job after all. But at the same time, I'm unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all", Mr Sheeran said.