US Supreme Court rejects bid to revive copyright go well with over Ed Sheeran hit ‘Thinking Out Loud’

Suit seeks financial damages over alleged tune copying

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Jury in 2023 dominated in favor of Sheeran in separate lawsuit

By Blake Brittain

WASHINGTON, – The U.S. Supreme Court turned away on Monday a bid to revive a copyright infringement lawsuit accusing pop star Ed Sheeran of unlawfully copying from the late singer Marvin Gaye’s 1973 basic “Let’s Get It On” in his 2014 hit tune “Thinking Out Loud.”

The justices declined to listen to an enchantment by Structured Asset Sales, an organization owned by funding banker David Pullman that has a copyright curiosity in Gaye’s tune, of a decide’s determination to dismiss the case. The firm had sued Sheeran, his report label Warner Music and music writer Sony Music Publishing, looking for financial damages over alleged similarities between the 2 songs.

Gaye, who died in 1984, collaborated with singer-songwriter Ed Townsend, who died in 2003, to put in writing “Let’s Get It On,” which topped the Billboard charts. Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2015.

Structured Asset Sales owns a share of the rights to “Let’s Get It On” that beforehand belonged to Townsend. Its lawsuit accused Sheeran of misusing copyrighted components of “Let’s Get It On” together with its melody, concord and rhythm.

U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton determined in 2023 that the musical components that Sheeran was accused of copying had been too frequent to benefit copyright safety.

The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the choice final 12 months. The 2nd Circuit additionally rejected the Structured Asset Sales argument that Stanton ought to have thought of components of “Let’s Get It On” that weren’t discovered within the “deposit copy” of the tune’s sheet music submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office.

In a 2023 trial in a separate copyright lawsuit over the identical situation filed by Townsend’s heirs, a jury in Manhattan federal courtroom dominated in favor of Sheeran.

“It’s devastating to be accused of stealing someone else’s song when we’ve put so much work into our livelihoods,” Sheeran mentioned exterior the courthouse following that verdict.

Structured Asset Sales has filed one other lawsuit in opposition to Sheeran based mostly on its rights to the audio recording of “Let’s Get It On.” That case is at present on maintain.

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