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Item 1 of 3 Singer Ed Sheeran performs on NBC's "Today" show at Rockefeller Center in New York, U.S., June 6, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
[1/3]Singer Ed Sheeran performs on NBC's "Today" show at Rockefeller Center in New York, U.S., June 6, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
- Suit seeks monetary damages over alleged song copying
- Jury in 2023 ruled in favor of Sheeran in separate lawsuit
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.O), opens new taband music publisher Sony Music Publishing
(6758.T), opens new tab, seeking monetary damages over alleged similarities between the two songs.
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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.
Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham
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Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, for Reuters Legal. He has previously written for Bloomberg Law and Thomson Reuters Practical Law and practiced as an attorney.
