Ed Sheeran copyright trial to begin over Marvin Gaye hit Let’s Get It On

A copyright court case alleging Ed Sheeran ripped off iconic Marvin Gaye hit Let’s Get It On in his song Thinking Out Loud will begin in the US today.

Jury selection and opening statements will take place at the Manhattan federal courtroom in front of 95-year-old District Judge Louis Stanton.

The jury will be asked to decide whether parts of Let’s Get It On, released in 1973, were copied in the singer’s 2014 number one and Grammy-winning hit Thinking Out Loud.

Sheeran, 32, who denies copying the song, is expected to give evidence during the trial.

The case is being brought by the daughter of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, citing “striking similarities” between the two songs.

Motown star Townsend died in 2003. Kathryn Townsend Griffin, his daughter, is the plaintiff leading the lawsuit.

Sheeran’s legal team have said the two songs “share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters”.

Sheeran himself has previously appeared to acknowledge similarities between the songs, toggling between the tracks during a concert in 2014, with the clip later shared on YouTube.

YouTube clips of him segueing into his song with Gaye’s hit may go on to form part of the evidence in the case.

Sheeran’s co-writer on the song, Amy Wadge, has not been named in the case. Additionally, Gaye’s estate is not involved in the case.

In 2018 Gaye’s estate received about $5m (about £3.9m) when a judge ruled that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’ song Blurred Lines copied Gaye’s Got To Give It Up, making it among the most significant copyright cases in recent decades.

Gaye was shot dead by his father in 1984, aged 44, as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents.

It is not the first time Sheeran has been accused of plagiarism over his songs.

In 2017, Sheeran settled a £16m copyright infringement lawsuit over his song Photograph after musicians Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard claimed his song was similar to a track they wrote in 2009.

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Last year, Sheeran won his High Court copyright trial against two songwriters who claimed he ripped off part of one of their songs for his huge 2017 hit Shape Of You.

At the time, Sheeran said such copyright claims were “way too common” and “made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim”. He said such cases were “really damaging to the songwriting industry”.

This latest court case is expected to last one week.