This week will mark the beginning of a copyright infringement case against British music artist Ed Sheeran, which has the potential to further complicate the legal landscape for songwriters.
Monday marked the beginning of jury selection in the case against Sheeran, who is accused of plagiarizing the 1973 soul classic “Let’s Get It On” by the heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the song with Marvin Gaye.
The jury will return to federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday morning when opening statements are expected to commence. Sheeran is anticipated to testify as well.
The trial involves Sheeran’s 2016 Grammy Award-winning composition “Thinking Out Loud,” which is the subject of the lawsuit.
“The defendants copied the ‘heart’ of ‘Let’s’ and repeated it continuously throughout ‘Thinking,'” according to the lawsuit. The claim asserts that the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic structures of the two melodies are “substantially and/or strikingly similar.”
The plaintiffs cited in the “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit are Townsend’s daughter Kathryn Townsend Griffin, his sister Helen McDonald, and the estate of his ex-wife Cherrigale Townsend. Gaye died in 1984 and Townsend perished in 2003.
Sheeran’s attorneys have argued in court filings that “the alleged similarities between the two songs are actually not similar and that any remaining similarities consist of unprotectable musical elements.”
In recent years, lawsuits similar to the one filed by Gaye’s family have become increasingly prevalent in the music industry.
Gaye’s family has previously successfully prosecuted other artists for copyright violations.
The estate successfully sued singer Robin Thicke and producer Pharrell Williams for $7.4 million in 2015 for borrowing from Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” for their hit “Blurred Lines,” but the judgment was ultimately reduced to $5.3 million after a five-year legal battle.
The court also granted Gaye’s family fifty percent of future royalties from “Blurred Lines.”
Other recent copyright cases, however, have produced diverse results.
Taylor Swift confronted a similar case in 2017 regarding her chart-topping single “Shake It Off,” which was settled and dismissed the following year.
Led Zeppelin was sued in 2014 over its iconic song “Stairway to Heaven” by the estate of the late Randy California, former lead guitarist of the 1960s band Spirit, for allegedly ripping off a portion of their single “Taurus.” A 2020 appeals court ruled in favor of Led Zeppelin.
Sheeran has previously prevailed in legal battles involving his music. In a 2022 case involving Sheeran’s song “Shape of You,” a judge declared that he did not plagiarize grime artist Sami Switch’s song “Oh Why” after the musician accused him of doing so.
In 2016, he was also sued for his single “Photograph,” but the case was settled out of court.
After his successful legal battle in 2022, Sheeran posted a video on Instagram expressing his displeasure with the recent influx of music copyright lawsuits.
It is extremely detrimental to the composing industry. In pop music, there are only a limited number of notes and chords. If every day on Spotify 60,000 songs are published, coincidence is inevitable.
That’s 22 million tunes per year with only 12 available notes,” Sheeran stated.
“I am not a being. I am not a business. I’m a human being. I am a parent. I’m a spouse. I’m a son. Lawsuits are not a pleasurable experience.”
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