October 1, (THEWILL) – British singer, Ed Sheeran, has been charged to court for plagiarism of Marvin Gaye’s song.
The singer was informed by a federal judge that he must go to trial in response to claims that he plagiarised Marvin Gaye’s 1973 smash song, “Let’s Get It On” on his 2014 track “Thinking Out Loud.”
In his application to the court, Ed Sheeran argued that the copyright claims should be rejected because they were “baseless” and “far too frequent.”
The plaintiffs claim that Ed Sheeran and his writing partner, Amy Wadge, copied and exploited, without authorisation or credit the Marvin Gaye song, “including but not limited to the melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation, and looping”, they are seeking $100 million (£90 million) in damages.
However, a date has not yet been fixed for the trial.
This is not the first time that a suit will be filed against the singer. A lawsuit was recently filed against him and his songwriting partners, John McDaid and Steven McCutcheon, over claims that a chorus from their song “Shape of You” was lifted verbatim from Ross O’Donoghue and Sami Chokri 2015 single, “Oh Why.”
The High Court Judge ruled that the imitation was “not purposefully nor unconsciously” made during the trial that took place in March 2022. Ed and his co-defendants were given £900,000 in costs.
Ed wrote on his Instagram page following the court decision that he hoped it would put an end to more unfounded claims.
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