Ed Sheeran’s request to dismiss a lawsuit alleging he ‘stole’ elements of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On for his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud has been shot down by a U.S. judge.
Lawmaker Louis Stanton has insisted a jury should decide whether or not Sheeran and bosses at Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Atlantic Records should be liable to the estate and heirs of late producer Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Let’s Get It On.
In his recent ruling, the judge confessed he couldn’t decide if Gaye’s 1973 hit deserved copyright protection in the case, but revealed footage from a Sheeran performance, during which he sings both songs, could help a jury make a decision.
Sheeran has denied copying from Gaye.
The Gaye family’s lawyer, Pat Frank, was thrilled with the judge’s decision to press on with a trial, insisting his clients are looking forward to their day in court.
Three of the late soul icon’s kids already have a major win under their belts after being awarded millions over similarities between Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit Got to Give It Up and Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines.
That case had been rumbling on since 2013, but Thicke and fellow songwriter Pharrell Williams were ordered to pay almost $5 million (£3.9 million) last year (18), as the case came to a close.
Gaye’s heirs claimed Thicke and Pharrell’s song infringed the copyright of their late father’s tune, and they were awarded a massive $7.4 million (£5.8 million) in a 2015 trial, but the figure was later reduced to $5.3 million (£4.1 million).
The legal teams for Thicke and Williams launched various legal challenges against the verdict, but 10 December (18) the case was settled once and for all, and a California federal judge issued a judgment for almost $5 million against the duo.
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