After US District Judge Louis Stanton rejected Sheeran’s request to have the copyright infringement complaint filed by claimant Structured Asset Sales LLC dismissed. the English singer-songwriter was in the middle of a legal spat. In one of three cases, the plaintiff who is a beneficiary of the estate of the late artist Ed Townsend accuses Sheeran of stealing the song “Thinking Out Loud” from Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”Ed Sheeran’s trial in the US court over song Copyright claims.
Ed Sheeran’s trial
Jurors must now determine if the 1973 song, co-written by Townsend, who passed away in 2003, is significantly similar to Sheeran’s 2014 single. Which was the 31-year-highest-charting old’s single up until the release of “Shape of You” in 2017. After musicologists from both sides of the argument disagreed on whether or not Sheeran’s track imitates Townsend and Gaye’s song, Judge Stanton reached the decision.
“A jury could determine that the overlap between the songs’ combinations of chord progression and harmonic rhythm is very similar”. He stated the conclusions, even though the two musical works are not exactly alike.
After dismissing Sheeran’s team’s argument that sales were unrelated to the claimed infringement of the song. The judge further stated that a jury panel must decide whether the plaintiff can include concert ticket revenue in the damages they seek.
According to Pollstar, Sheeran’s ‘X’ tour, which ran from 2014 to 2015, earned $150 million (£135 million). He gave it in support of his second studio album, X, with the song “Thinking Out Loud” on track 11.
Structured Asset Sales is “pleased” with the preliminary result, according to an attorney for the company. Hillel Parness, who spoke to Reuters.
While a second lawsuit brought by a different part of Townsend’s estate is undergoing Ed Sheeran’s trial. The singer’s identical claim against the firm has presently been halted.
The accusation of copyright
Of course, Sheeran has already been a defendant in a copyright infringement lawsuit.
The musician prevailed in a High Court case involving his 2017 song, “Shape Of You,” in April of this year.
According to Pollstar, Sheeran’s ‘X’ tour, which ran from 2014 to 2015, earned $150 million (£135 million). He gave it in support of his second studio album, with the song “Thinking Out Loud” on track 11. Structured Asset Sales is “pleased” with the preliminary result, according to an attorney for the company, Hillel Parness, who spoke to Reuters.
While a second lawsuit brought by a different part of Townsend’s estate is undergoing trial. The singer’s identical claim against the firm has presently been halted.
The musician Ed Sheeran’s trial in the US court over the claims of song Copyrighting. They provided samples of other songs with comparable characteristics, such as The Temptations Since I Lost My Baby.
Stanton noted that the two musical works’ chord sequences and harmonic rhythm are even though the two musical works are not exactly alike.
A date for the civil Ed Sheeran’s trial, which will hold in Manhattan, has not yet been determined. But it is anticipated to be one of prominence. SIn April, Sheeran was exonerated of plagiarism in a separate lawsuit in London involving his chart-topping 2017 song Shape of You.
Thinking out lord
A business named Structured Asset Sales (SAS), which purchased a share of the estate of co-author Ed Townsend. First filed the claim for Thinking Out Loud in 2018.
It claimed Sheeran and his writing partner Amy Wadge “copied and exploited, without authorization or credit.” The 1973 Gaye song, “including but not limited to the melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation, and looping.” The lawsuit sought $100 million (£90 million) in damages.
Sheeran’s contention that ticket sales were unrelated to the alleged infringement was rejected by Stanton. Who mandated that jurors consider whether SAS can include concert earnings in damages? According to Pollstar, a trade newspaper for the music business. Sheeran’s tour from 2014 to 2015 generated $150 million in gross revenues.
Thinking Out Loud, Sheeran’s 2014 single that reached No. 1 in the UK and spent 51 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, is currently the subject of more legal proceedings. While a different lawsuit brought by a separate section of Townsend’s estate is going to trial, SAS has filed a second case that is now on hold.
Last note
According to Hillel Parness, a lawyer representing SAS, the business was happy with the decision. Sheeran and his co-writers John McDaid and Steven McCutcheon were accused of plagiarising the hook of their song Oh Why. A 2015 song by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, at the Shape of You trial in London in March. The artist expressed his hope that the decision would end “future false lawsuits”. Which he claimed were “damaging to the songwriting profession”. After a high court judge ruled in his favour.
