‘Let’s Get It On’ Court Resists Rightsholder’s Bid to Join (1)

A partial owner of a songwriter copyright to a Marvin Gaye song waited too long to intervene in an infringement lawsuit against pop singer Ed Sheeran, an appeals court said.

Structured Asset Sales LLC wanted to join the estate of songwriter Edward Townsend in its complaint alleging Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” infringed Gaye’s R&B classic “Let’s Get It On.” The lower court made mistakes in its reasoning but not its conclusion that SAS’s bid to join a case scheduled for a September trial was untimely, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled April 16.

The Second Circuit ...