Supreme Court Ends Sheeran 'Let's Get It On' Dispute

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by Structured Asset Sales (SAS), which owns a minority interest in the rights to Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On,' over claims that Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' unlawfully copied the 1973 classic. This decision effectively ends a prolonged copyright dispute, leaving in place lower court rulings that found the songs' shared musical elements, such as chord progression and harmonic rhythm, are too generic for copyright protection. The appeals courts limited comparisons to sheet music as submitted to the Copyright Office, in accordance with the Copyright Act of 1909. SAS had argued that the case could impact the rights of many legacy songwriters, but Sheeran's legal team warned that broadening copyright protection could lead to speculative lawsuits. Sheeran had also won a related case brought by the heirs of Gaye’s co-writer Ed Townsend. The Supreme Court's action affirms that generic musical components are not protected by copyright law.