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Suit seeks monetary damages over alleged song copying

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Jury in 2023 ruled in favor of Sheeran in separate lawsuit

By Blake Brittain

WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court

turned away on Monday a bid to revive a copyright infringement

lawsuit accusing pop star Ed Sheeran of unlawfully copying from

the late singer Marvin Gaye's 1973 classic "Let's Get It On" in

his 2014 hit song "Thinking Out Loud."

The justices declined to hear an appeal by Structured Asset

Sales, a company owned by investment banker David Pullman that

has a copyright interest in Gaye's song, of a judge's decision

to dismiss the case. The company had sued Sheeran, his record

label Warner Music ( WMG ) and music publisher Sony Music

Publishing, seeking monetary damages over alleged

similarities between the two songs.

Gaye, who died in 1984, collaborated with singer-songwriter

Ed Townsend, who died in 2003, to write "Let's Get It On," which

topped the Billboard charts. Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud"

peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2015.

Structured Asset Sales owns a share of the rights to "Let's

Get It On" that previously belonged to Townsend. Its lawsuit

accused Sheeran of misusing copyrighted elements of "Let's Get

It On" including its melody, harmony and rhythm.

U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton decided in 2023 that the

musical elements that Sheeran was accused of copying were too

common to merit copyright protection.

The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld

the decision last year. The 2nd Circuit also rejected the

Structured Asset Sales argument that Stanton should have

considered elements of "Let's Get It On" that were not found in

the "deposit copy" of the song's sheet music submitted to the

U.S. Copyright Office.

In a 2023 trial in a separate copyright lawsuit over the

same issue filed by Townsend's heirs, a jury in Manhattan

federal court ruled in favor of Sheeran.

"It's devastating to be accused of stealing someone else's

song when we've put so much work into our livelihoods," Sheeran

said outside the courthouse following that verdict.

Structured Asset Sales has filed another lawsuit against

Sheeran based on its rights to the audio recording of "Let's Get

It On." That case is currently on hold.