Judge rules Ed Sheeran must face copyright trial over Thinking Out Loud

Pop star Ed Sheeran has been ordered to stand trial in the US over claims he copied his hit song Thinking Out Loud from Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On.

A judge denied Sheeran's bid to dismiss the case, saying a jury should decide on the similarities between the songs.

The move comes six months after Sheeran was cleared of copying his hit song Shape Of You at a trial in London.

The claim over Thinking Out Loud was originally lodged in 2018, not by Gaye's family but by investment banker David Pullman and a company called Structured Asset Sales, which has acquired a portion of the estate of Let's Get It On co-writer Ed Townsend.

Seeking $100m in damages, they allege that Sheeran and his co-writer Amy Wadge "copied and exploited, without authorisation or credit" the Gaye song, "including but not limited to the melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping".

[Source: BBC]