LET’S GET IT ON

Ed Sheeran to Face Trial Over Claim He Ripped Off Marvin Gaye Tune

The British singer’s bid to have the U.S. copyright case dismissed has been denied.

Ed Sheeran has been ordered to stand trial in the U.S. over an allegation that his hit song “Thinking Out Loud” copied Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” Manhattan District Judge Louis Stanton on Thursday denied the British hitmaker’s bid to have the copyright infringement suit dismissed, ruling that a jury should decide if the 2014 song is substantially similar to Gaye’s 1973 masterpiece. News of the trial comes mere months after Sheeran won a copyright trial over his song “Shape of You” in the U.K., with the singer and his co-songwriters being awarded almost $1 million in legal costs. The latest case, which was originally lodged in 2018, is not being pursued by Gaye’s family, but rather by Structured Asset Sales LLC, which owns part of the estate of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote “Let’s Get It On.”