A US court has ruled that British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran did not copy Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On when composing his hit song Thinking Out Loud in 2014.
The decision came after heirs of Gaye’s co-writer claimed that Sheeran, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Publishing had infringed on the copyright of the 1973 track. During the civil trial in New York, Sheeran denied any wrongdoing and even played and sang parts of his hit song on the guitar.
He revealed that he had written the song at home in England with his friend Amy Wadge and that it was inspired by his grandparents and a new romantic relationship he had just begun.
Sheeran’s lawyer, Ilene Farkas, argued that similarities in the chord progressions and rhythms of the two songs were simply “the letters of the alphabet of music.”
On the other hand, Keisha Rice, who represented the heirs of Gaye’s co-writer Ed Townsend, claimed that her clients were not claiming to own basic musical elements but rather “the way in which these common elements were uniquely combined.” In the end, the court sided with Sheeran and dismissed the copyright infringement claim.
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This is not the first time that Sheeran has faced accusations of copyright infringement. In 2017, he was sued over his song Shape of You but won the case. He is also currently facing claims over Thinking Out Loud from a company owned by investment banker David Pullman that holds copyright interests in the Gaye song.
In 2015, Gaye’s heirs won a $5.3 million judgment from a lawsuit claiming that the Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams song Blurred Lines copied Gaye’s Got to Give It Up.
