Ed Sheeran can’t seem to catch a break from facing copyright lawsuits, with a new report claiming that the British singer has been ordered to stand trial over accusations that he copied Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On” song for his own 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud.” Sheeran’s legal team had previously filed a motion to have the case dismissed, but U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton denied the request, saying that a jury will get to decide whether the two songs in question are identical.
Interestingly enough, the copyright lawsuit was not filed by Gaye’s family but by an investment banker named David Pullman, alongside a firm called Structured Asset Sales, who own parts of the estate by Ed Townsend, who helped co-write and produce the 1973 track. The two parties are said to be seeking $100 million in damages, asserting that they believe Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge undoubtedly “copied and exploited” Gaye’s song without credit or authorization.
Yeah, I’m not so sure Ed Sheeran gets away with this Marvin Gaye ‘Let’s Get It On’ ‘Thinking Out Loud’ copyright lawsuit…
This won’t help Ed’s case, for sure… 🤦🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/4WiAkwpc3q
— Spartan Roy (@TheDroyver) September 30, 2022
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In court documents, it’s claimed that the similarities are heard “but not limited to” the melody, drums, harmonies, backing chorus, bass line, syncopation, looping, and tempo. Judge Stanton further ruled that jurors will get to decide whether concert revenue should also be taken into consideration, given that “Thinking Out Loud” was included in most of the set lists for his tours. It remains one of Sheeran’s best-selling songs, shifting 6 million units in the U.S. and amassing over 3.5 billion views on YouTube.
Back in March, the father of two was caught up in another lawsuit filed by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donohue, who believed that he had ripped off their 2015 song “Oh Why” for “Shape Of You.” Fortunately for Sheeran, a High Court judge in London said that Sheeran and his co-writers John mcDais and Steven McCutcheon “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” plagiarized the song, having awarded the trio just over a million dollars in legal costs.
I’m surprised Marvin Gaye family aint get ed sheeran stealin ass..That baseline is definitely from I wanna get it on..
— Uno Out👋🏾..Mamba4Ever (@NEHeartBreakKid) September 24, 2022
Following the ruling, Sheeran took to Instagram and wrote, “I hope that this ruling means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided. This really does have to end.”
He continued: “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry. There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify. That’s 22 million songs a year, and there’s only 12 notes that are available.”