Ed Sheeran Rides Zeppelin’s Win to Hinder Claim He Copied Gaye

Ed Sheeran, facing a copyright lawsuit for his song “Thinking Out Loud,” convinced a court to keep the audio recording of a Marvin Gaye song he allegedly infringed out of the trial, a win due to Led Zeppelin’s recent Ninth Circuit victory.

Sound elements from Gaye’s 1973 song, “Let’s Get It On,” including his vocal performance, drums, guitars, and other instruments, can’t be compared to Sheeran’s song because they don’t appear in the simple melody in the paper copy at the Copyright Office, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled.

That means the sound recording—copyright ...