Ed Sheeran Sued For $100 Million For Allegedly Copying A Marvin Gaye Classic

BYBrynjar Chapman12.2K Views
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Ed Sheeran at at Optus Stadium on March 2, 2018 in Perth, Australia
Ed Sheeran is being sued for $100 million dollars.

Grammy winner and Beyonce and Eminem collaborator Ed Sheeran has been sued for 100 million dollars for allegedly copying the Marvin Gaye Classic "Let's Get It On." Sheeran's song that is under fire, "Thinking Out Loud" was nominated for three Grammys in 2015 and won one of them: song of the year. 

According to the lawsuit, Sheeran's song shares just about everything with Gaye's, from melody to percussion and even aspects that the more casual music listener might not even consider, like syncopation. 

The company suing Sheeran, Structured Asset Sales, bought a third of the rights to "Let's Get It On" in 2003 when one of the writers of the song, Edward Townsend, died. The daughter of Edward Townsend has already taken legal action against Sheeran earlier this month, while the family of Marvin Gaye has yet to sue. 

This isn't the first time Sheeran has been sued for this kind of alleged plagiarism. In January, Sheeran was sued by the writers of a song called "Photograph" which was written for a contestant on the show "X Factor." The lawsuit was for over $20 Million but the cased was dismissed when the two parties decided to settle out of court for an undisclosed amount. 

Sheeran's song, which has more then two billion views on YouTube, doesn't sound like a carbon copy of Gaye's, but there are certainly some similarities. Listen to the two below and decide for yourself: 


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