- A federal appeals court ruled Friday, Nov. 1, that Ed Sheeran did not infringe the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic “Let’s Get It On” with his 2014 song “Thinking Out Loud.”
- Reuters first reported the court’s decision
- According to the court, the pair of songs share only “basic musical building blocks” that cannot be owned by any individual songwriter
Ed Sheeran did not infringe the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic “Let’s Get It On” with his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud,” according to a federal appeals court. Reuters first reported the ruling on Friday, November 1.
According to Billboardthe US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit — which handed down its decision more than a decade after the pop star’s hit was released — said the pair of songs shared only “fundamental musical components” that could not be owned by any individual songwriter.
In the ruling, the court dismissed an infringement claim filed by Structured Asset Sales, a company that owns a small stake in the rights to Gaye’s hit.
Ed Sheeran in April 2023 Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Ed Sheeran to face $100m jury for ‘thinking out loud’: report
The case alleged that Sheeran, 33, allegedly copied the chord progression and beat from Gaye’s song, but the appeals court said the lawsuit essentially fights a “monopoly over the combination of two fundamental musical building blocks.”
“The four-chord progression at issue — ubiquitous in pop music — even along with a syncopated harmonic rhythm, is too well-researched to meet the threshold of originality required by copyright law,” several appeals court judges wrote, according to Billboard. “Overprotection of such basic elements would threaten to stifle creativity and undermine the purpose of copyright law.”
Per Billboardthe appeals court also ruled that Sheeran’s and Gaye’s songs were not sufficiently identical to cause copyright infringement: “Neither the melody nor the lyrics of ‘Thinking Out Loud’ bear any resemblance to those of ‘Let’s Get It On.’ There are undeniable and obvious differences between them.”
Since the release of “Thinking Out Loud” in 2014, Sheeran has faced several lawsuits over the Amy Wadge-penned song. He was first sued in 2017 by the heirs of the late songwriter Ed Townsend, who wrote the soul hit that was later recorded by Kathryn Griffin Townsend, his daughter and only living direct heir, who was the plaintiff leading the civil trial.
That case was settled in May 2023, and Sheeran was not found liable.
“I feel like the truth was heard and the truth was believed,” the “Shape of You” hitmaker told PEOPLE exclusively after the decision at the time. “It’s nice that we can both get on with our lives now – it’s sad that it had to come to this.”
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Although the verdict handed down on Friday, November 1 is complete, Sheeran is facing another lawsuit from SAS alleging copyright infringement when it comes to the sound recording of “Let’s Get It On” instead of the written music. However, that case was put on hold because an earlier lawsuit was being decided.
In the statement for BillboardSAS owner Pullman was critical of the court for analyzing “two songs out of over 60 million registered songs” to make its decision.
Sheeran’s attorney, Donald Zakarin, told PEOPLE that he and his clients are “pleased” with the court’s decision.
“This decision is consistent with the dismissal of any claim of violation of jury rights [earlier] case, revealing that Ed and Amy independently created ‘Thinking Out Loud,’” he said.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education