Ed Sheeran Is Being Sued by Marvin Gaye’s Estate

Ed Sheeran is apparently in hot water with Marvin Gaye’s estate, over his 2014 song entitled “Thinking Out Loud.” Marvin’s estate is claiming that the song copied elements from “Let’s Get it On,” which Marvin wrote back in 1973 along with Ed Townsend.

The lawsuit is being filed by Townsend’s heirs, and states:

“The Defendants copied the ‘heart’ of Let’s and repeated it continuously throughout Thinking. The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of Thinking are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of Let’s.”

“Thinking Out Loud” became Ed’s first number one single and has been watched over a billion times on YouTube. It also won Song of the Year at the 2016 Grammy Awards.

Ed has not yet commented on the similarities between the songs, but he has gotten into some trouble with this type of thing in the past. Ed was sued for $20 million over his 2015 song “Photograph” for “verbatim, note-for-note copying” the song “Amazing” which was released by X Factor singer Matt Cardle.

This is not the first time that Marvin’s estate has gone after an artist for stealing his work, last year Marvin’s family was awarded $7.4 million when they sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copyright infringement over “Blurred Lines.”