Lawsuit Alleges His Song “Thinking Out Loud” Ripped Marvin Gaye’s Song “Let’s Get It On”
Ed Sheeran is in the midst of trial with a lawsuit alleging that his song “Thinking Out Loud” ripped off Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On.” His lawyers have spent the past few months unsuccessfully trying to dismiss the case, but now he’s raising the stakes by threatening to stop the music altogether if he’s found guilty of copyright infringement.
for every New York PostWhen asked by Sheeran’s attorney what he would do if the plaintiffs won the case, he replied, “If that happens, I’m done. I’m holding back… I find it really insulting to have been working my whole life as a singer-songwriter and to be reduced to it.”
Sheeran adamantly insisted that any similarities between his 2014 song and Gaye’s 1973 song are purely coincidental, and that those similarities were too common to constitute copyright infringement. To drive home his point, he reportedly “put together a medley of Van Morrison songs in the courtroom on Mondays” during his testimony, which may not have helped him as much as he thought.
A federal copyright infringement case was filed again in 2018 by Structured Asset Sales, an entity that owns part of the copyright to Ed Townsend, who co-wrote “Let’s Get It On”. In September 2022, Judge Louis Stanton decided that Sheeran and the structured asset sales would have to argue their points in front of the jury, who would then decide whether Thinking Out Loud actually copied “Let’s Get It On”.
Sheeran did not appear to address whether the ruling will affect the upcoming “Math Round,” which kicks off this week. The North American track consisted of stage gigs as well as a handful of intimate theatrical performances. Check out seats and deals via StubHub, orders are 100% guaranteed with StubHub’s FanProtect Program. StubHub is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be above or below face value, depending on demand.