Ed Sheeran Wins Marvin Gaye Copyright Case Appeal: ‘Ubiquitous’ Chord Progression

Ed Sheeran has emerged victorious once again in his “Thinking Out Loud” copyright case. On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Sheeran’s hit did not infringe the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” citing that the songs share only the “fundamental musical building blocks,” per Billboard.

The original case — filed by Structured Asset Sales, a company that owns a small stake over Gaye’s song — argued that Sheeran copied a chord progression and rhythm from “Let’s Get It On.”

“We are gratified that the Second Circuit agreed with Judge Stanton that Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge did not infringe ‘Let’s Get It On’ in creating ‘Thinking Out Loud,’” Sheeran’s attorney Donald Zakarian told Rolling Stone. “This ruling is consistent with the jury’s rejection of any claim of infringement in the Griffin case, finding that Ed and Amy independently created ‘Thinking Out Loud.’”

The appeals court said the lawsuit sought “a monopoly over a combination of two fundamental musical building blocks” and that “neither the melody nor the lyrics” bore “any resemblance” to “Let’s Get It On.”

“The four-chord progression at issue—ubiquitous in pop music—even coupled with a syncopated harmonic rhythm, is too well-explored to meet the originality threshold that copyright law demands,” a panel of appeals court judges wrote. “Overprotecting such basic elements would threaten to stifle creativity and undermine the purpose of copyright law.”

The new ruling comes about a year after Sheeran was found not liable for copying the song following a lawsuit by Ed Townsend’s estate. (Townsend co-wrote the Gaye song.) At the time, Sheeran said he was pleased with the outcome but was “unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.”

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“It’s simply wrong. By stopping this practice we can also properly support genuine music copyright claims so that legitimate claims are rightly heard and resolved,” he added, calling the lawsuit against him a “bogus claim.”

Structured Asset Sales also has a separate lawsuit against Sheeran that’s still pending.