24 April 2023 , 12:37
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Ed Sheeran is expected to take to the stand in a case which claims his Thinking Out Loud tune violates a copyright.
The hit 2014 tune rocketed to number one in the UK charts - but there are claims it violates the copyright of the Marvin Gaye classic Let's Get It On.
The opening statements and jury selection is now to begin in a case which the heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye's co-writer on the 1973 soul classic, claim Ed's song has "striking similarities" to the soul classic.
The case was initially filed in 2017 and is now expected to last a week as the fight takes place in the Manhattan federal courtroom.
Let's Get It On has been a sensation since its release 50 years ago, garnering hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the decades.
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Ed's tune won a Grammy for song of the year, and is a much more marital take on love and sex than that in question.
Both of the tunes are expected to be played to the jury on numerous occasions but it's thought the lyrics will be legally insignificant.
Ed's team have disputed the claims (Getty Images)Instead, the jurors will only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of Let's Get It On.
It will look at how the song is documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The argument from 32-year-old Ed's lawyers is that the songs' undeniable structural symmetry only points to what they see as the foundations of popular music.
In court papers, the lawyers said: "The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters."
Townsend family attorneys meanwhile said in their lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed a number of mashups of the two songs.
They also added that Ed himself had mixed the two during his live performances.
Ed Sheeran is expected to testify in the case (Getty Images for GBK Brand Bar)While Marvin Gaye's estate isn't involved in the case, it's clear it will have echoes of their successful lawsuit against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and TI over the resemblance between their 2013 hit Blurred Lines and Gaye's 1977 song, Got to Give it Up.
At the time, the jury awarded Gaye's heirs $7.4 million (£5.9 million) at trial. However, this was later reduced to $5.3 million (£4.2 million).
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The amount still made it one of the most significant copyright cases in recent decades.
Sheeran's label Atlantic Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing are also named as defendants in the Thinking Out Loud lawsuit.
A year ago, Ed won a UK copyright battle over his 2017 hit Shape Of You. He went on to slam what he called a "culture" of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.
Taking to social media after the verdict, the singer said at the time: "I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim.
"It's really damaging to the songwriting industry."