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Online Extra: The Other Recent Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Ed Sheeran
The lion's share of attention to copyright-infringement claims against Ed Sheeran over his 2016 Grammy-winning Song of the Year "Thinking Out Loud" recently focused on the trial in New York federal court, presided over by Southern District of New York federal Judge Louis L. Stanton, in which a jury found in Sheeran's favor in the lawsuit brought by the heirs of Ed Townsend, co-author of the 1970s soul-song classic "Let's Get It On" (LGO) with Marvin Gaye. Griffin v. Sheeran, 18-1862.
But in September 2022 in a related infringement suit over the same songs' matching chord progression and harmonic rhythm (i.e., the "backing pattern"), District Judge Stanton had allowed Structured Assets Sales, which owns an 11.11% beneficial share of Ed Townsend's song-royalty income from "Let's Get It On" to also proceed with its claim against Sheeran. Structured Asset Sales (SAS) LLC v. Sheeran, 18 Civ. 5839.
In the SAS ruling, the district judge had decided: "The law does not support Sheeran's contention that the combination of LGO's chord progression and harmonic rhythm is insufficiently original to warrant it copyrightable," adding that the "experts' disagreement on whether the backing pattern is sufficiently uncommon to warrant copyright protection is a genuine dispute as to a material fact, preventing summary judgment." (Judge Stanton also concluded that "Sheeran's motion in the alternative to dismiss SAS's claim to include concert merchandise revenue in a calculation of damages is granted, but its motion to dismiss the inclusion of concert ticket sales is denied.")
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