Ed Sheeran Trial: Did He Copy Marvin Gaye? Here’s What to Know.
A closely watched music copyright trial began Monday in federal court in Manhattan with the selection of a jury that will decide a lawsuit accusing Ed Sheeran of copying his Grammy-winning ballad “Thinking Out Loud” from Marvin Gaye’s soul classic “Let’s Get It On.”
Sheeran is expected to testify at the trial, which is getting underway less than two weeks before he plans to release a new album and begin an extensive North American stadium tour. The case, originally filed in 2017, has been delayed multiple times.
The music industry is keenly interested in the outcome. Over the last decade, the business has been rocked by a series of infringement suits that have involved questions of just how much or how little of the work of pop songwriters can be protected by copyright, and how vulnerable they are to legal challenges.
The trend began in 2015 when a jury found that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, in their hit “Blurred Lines,” had infringed on the copyright of another Gaye tune, “Got to Give It Up,” and they were ordered to pay more than $5 million in damages. The case shocked many legal experts — and musicians — who believed that Thicke and Williams were being penalized for using basic musical building blocks, like harmonies and rhythmic patterns, that had long been considered part of the public domain.
Source: The New York Times
