An appellate court has affirmed a decision stating that Ed Sheeran’s popular track Thinking Out Loud did not unlawfully replicate Marvin Gaye’s iconic song, Let’s Get It On.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, located in Manhattan, New York, concurred with a prior judgment from a lower court that dismissed a lawsuit initiated by Structured Asset Sales (SAS), which holds the rights to the 1973 Gaye classic that was previously owned by the late co-writer Ed Townsend.
SAS had leveled accusations against Sheeran, along with his label Warner Music and music publisher Sony Music Publishing.
Ed Sheeran was present in court in New York in 2023 for a hearing on a distinct lawsuit regarding the same track, which he successfully contested. Pic: AP
This follows an additional copyright lawsuit brought by Townsend’s heirs concerning alleged resemblances between the songs. Sheeran prevailed in that case in May 2023, after a jury trial.
SAS filed its lawsuit against Sheeran in 2018, four years following the debut of his chart-topping single. US District Judge Louis Stanton dismissed the lawsuit subsequent to the verdict in the heirs’ case last year, determining that the musical elements claimed to be copied were too ubiquitous to warrant copyright protection.
The appellate court has concurred with this assessment, asserting that Thinking Out Loud and Let’s Get It On do not share sufficient similarities for Sheeran to have violated copyright, noting that protecting such elements could inhibit artistic innovation.
David Pullman, the owner of SAS and an investment banker, stated that the firm is evaluating all potential options following the ruling.
Gaye, who passed away in 1984, collaborated with Townsend, who died in 2003, to compose Let’s Get It On, which soared to the top of the Billboard charts in the year it was released. The song has been featured in a multitude of films and advertisements and has amassed hundreds of millions of streams and radio plays over the last five decades.
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Sheeran, hailing from Suffolk, stands as one of the most prominent contemporary music artists worldwide. Thinking Out Loud, which garnered a Grammy for Song of the Year in 2016, ranks among his most significant hits.
Sky News has reached out to representatives of the artist for their comments regarding the recent ruling.
Following the outcome in 2023, he expressed outside the court that he was “incredibly frustrated that unfounded claims like this are permitted to reach court at all”.
He added: “We’ve devoted the past eight years discussing two songs with strikingly different lyrics, melodies, and four distinct chords that are also commonly utilized by songwriters globally, every day.”
The British artist, 33, also won a comparable copyright case in the UK in 2022 – this one concerning Shape Of You, another of his major hits.
During that trial, he was accused by two lesser-known songwriters of plagiarizing part of one of their compositions for his 2017 release. However, the High Court judge ruled that Sheeran “neither intentionally nor subconsciously” copied a hook from the song.
Following that judgment, Sheeran issued a video statement condemning “unfounded” copyright claims that are “detrimental” to the industry.
