Musician Ed Sheeran was unable to escape a lawsuit claiming his song “Thinking Out Loud” took key musical elements from Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” after a federal judge advanced the case a step closer to trial.
Gaye’s 1973 song contains a chord progression and harmonic rhythm that alone aren’t copyrightable but together may be original enough for copyright protection, which is needed to show infringement, Judge Louis L. Stanton of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York found on Thursday.
The question of originality and whether those musical elements are substantially similar to Sheeran’s ...
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