Ed Sheeran Sued for Allegedly Copying Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’

Ed Sheeran is facing new lawsuit for reportedly copying Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend's "Let's Get It On" on his song "Thinking Out Loud". The lawsuit was filed more than a month after the singer was sued for copyright infringement because of his song "Photograph."

As reported by TMZ, the heirs of Townsend and Gaye, who co-wrote "Let's Get It On," were the ones who filed the lawsuit against Sheeran and Sony/ATV Music Publishing. They claimed that the singer used certain parts from the 1973 track, such as the harmony, melody and rhythm, to create his 2014 hit, which won at the 2016 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

"The defendants copied the 'heart' of 'Let's' and repeated it continuously throughout 'Thinking,'" the plaintiffs stated in the lawsuit according to Reuters. "The melodic, harmonic and rhythmic compositions of 'Thinking' are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of 'Let's.'"

Sheeran and representatives of Sony have not yet responded to the legal action taken against them.

The Sheeran's latest court battle came just over a month after he was sued for also allegedly copying another song. Earlier in June, California-based musicians Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard of the publishing company HaloSongs claimed that Sheeran created the track "Photograph" based on their 2009 song "Amazing," which was released by The X Factor winner Matt Cardle in 2012 for his first studio album Letters, Rolling Stone reported.

For the lawsuit, Harrington and Leonard enlisted the help of Richard Busch, the lawyer who successfully represented Gaye's family last year in a court battle against Robin Thicke and his song "Blurred Lines."

"My clients are professional songwriters," Busch said in a statement according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Their work is their life, and I am honored that they have trusted me with this very important case."

Tags

Ed Sheeran, Marvin Gaye