A second copyright case against British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran regarding similarities between his hit Thinking Out Loud and Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On was dismissed on Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan.
According to US District Judge Louis Stanton, Sheeran’s song Let’s Get It On was too well known to be protected by copyright, thus the action brought by Structured Asset Sales LLC was dismissed.
Earlier last month, Sheeran triumphed in a second jury trial in the same court over the songs.
Both trials, involving co-author Ed Townsend’s ownership of Gaye’s 1973 masterpiece, were presided over by Stanton. Townsend’s heirs were unable to persuade the jury that Sheeran had violated their portion of Townsend’s music copyright.
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Investment banker and Bowie Bonds originator David Pullman controls Structured Asset Sales, which holds a portion of Townsend’s stake in Let’s Get It On. After Townsend’s heirs filed their complaint, it sued Sheeran, his record label Warner song Group (WMG.O), and his song publisher Sony Music Publishing in 2018.
The chord structure and harmonic rhythm of Gaye’s song, according to Stanton’s ruling on Tuesday, were a “basic musical building block” that were too widespread to warrant copyright protection.
Ilene Farkas, Sheeran’s attorney, hailed the verdict as “an important victory not only for Ed” and working partner Amy Wadge, but also for “all songwriters and music consumers.”
Structured Asset Sales has once again sued Sheeran for violating its rights to the recording of Marvin Gaye, which is still in circulation. The recording of Let’s Get It On, rather than the computerised transcription of the song’s sheet music from the Townsend trial, will be played for the jury in that case, according to Pullman, who spoke to Reuters.
In terms of anything they’ve submitted, “their biggest fear has been to stop the sound recording from coming in,” Pullman added.
