Ed Sheeran has been slapped with copyright infringement charges and is being asked to pay $100 million in damages. It was alleged that the singer and his co-writer Amy Wadge plagiarized 'Let's Get It On' by American singer and songwriter, Marvin Gaye.
As stated in the lawsuit, Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' shows extensive similarity to Gaye's track. The suit accused the 27-year-old English singer of copying the melody, harmony, bass line, rhythms, drums, looping, syncopation, tempo and backing chorus of the 1973 hit.
Then again, it was not Marvin Gaye's family who filed a complaint but a company called Structured Asset Sales. It was said that it owns a third of the copyright to 'Let's Get It On' and it is running after Sheeran whom they claim owes them $100 million, as his 2014 smash hit copied large parts of Gaye's popular song.
According to Reuters, it was David Pullman, an investment banker and founder of Structured Asset Sales, who filed the copyright infringement suit in Manhattan federal court. Aside from Sheeran and Wadge, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Atlantic Records were also listed as defendants. All the accused have denied the allegations hurled against them but they have yet to release an official statement regarding the matter.
In another news, while Ed Sheeran still needs to resolve the matters with Structured Asset Sales, he is going to court for another reason. This time, he is the one suing for losing millions in royalty payout for 'Shape Of You.'
The singer filed a lawsuit against Sam Chokri, a musician who accused him of copying his 'Oh Why' track that was released in 2015. Although his song raked in millions for selling more than 26 million copies, Sheeran did not receive even a dime since May 10 and it was all because of the copyright complaint.
The Sun reported that the royalty payout has been suspended as Chokri won a ruling from the Performing Rights Society, the organization that makes decisions on royalty payouts in music. The resolution issued by the PRS placed Sheeran's royalty on hold and this is why he is taking the matters to the court, to reclaim his money.
‘Shape of You' was 2017's bestselling single and has given Ed Sheeran his Grammy Award for Best Solo Pop Performance. Meanwhile, he denied ever plagiarizing other's work for making this song.
