Ed Sheeran To Face Copyright Trial Over ‘Thinking Out Loud’
30 September 2022, 14:50
Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits (Live at Capital's Summertime Ball 2022)
Ed Sheeran must stand trial in the US over claims he copied Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’.
Ed Sheeran will stand before a jury over copyright issues surrounding his 2014 song ‘Thinking Out Loud’, after it was claimed he copied ‘Let’s Get It On’ by Marvin Gaye.
A judge denied the singer’s bid to dismiss the case, saying a jury should decide on the similarities.
It comes just six months after Sheeran was cleared of accusations he copied his hit song ‘Shape of You’ from Sami Chokri’s ‘Oh Why’.
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After the ruling, the pop star shared a video on social media calling the copyright claims ‘baseless’ and said such lawsuits were ‘way too common’.
The claim over ‘Thinking Out Loud’ – which won Sheeran his first Grammy in 2015 – was filed in 2018 by a company that own a partial stake in Gaye’s 1973 song, and Sheeran has tried to dismiss the case ever since.
The company are seeking $100m in damages, alleging Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge ‘copied and exploited, without authorisation or credit’ to the 70’s song.
On Thursday, Judge Louis Stanton said there was “no bright-line rule” for deciding such matters and that the pop star would need to make his arguments before a jury.
The pop sensation has long faced questions over whether ‘Thinking Out Loud’ borrowed melodies and rhythms from ‘Let’s Get It On’.
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
In 2014 he was captured on stage at a concert singing parts from both songs.
The lawsuit includes ‘but is not limited to the melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping.’
After he was first hit with the lawsuit in 2018, Sheeran’s lawyers argued the elements he was accused of taking from Gaye’s song – a chord progression and harmonic rhythm – were too commonplace to be the exclusive property of any one songwriter.
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