Now Ed Sheeran is being accused of ripping off Marvin Gaye, too.
A year and a half after a jury in Los Angeles found that Pharrell and Robin Thicke were guilty of ripping off Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" for their 2013 hit "Blurred Lines," Sheeran is being hit with a copyright lawsuit alleging that he lifted his Grammy-winning hit "Thinking Out Loud" from the 1973 classic "Let's Get It On."
But where the lawsuit against Thicke and Pharrell came from Gaye's family, this lawsuit -- filed in a New York district court on Tuesday -- comes from the family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the song with Gaye.
Townsend's family is accusing Sheeran of ripping off the "melodic, harmonic and rhythmic compositions" of "Let's Get It On" for "Thinking Out Loud," which spent a full year in the U.K. Top 40 Billboard chart.
"The Defendants copied the 'heart' of Let's and repeated it continuously throughout Thinking," the lawsuit alleges. It adds that Sheeran and other defendents -- which include Atlantic Records -- were notified of the alleged infringement in April of last year but "knowingly and intentionally infringed Plaintiffs' rights."
Earlier this summer, Sheeran was hit with a $20 million lawsuit over his 2014 hit "Photograph" led by the legal team from the now-infamous "Blurred Lines" trial. In that lawsuit, Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard accused the singer of "note-for-note copying" "Amazing," a song they wrote in 2009 which was recorded by X Factor winner Matt Cardle in 2012.
A representative for Sheeran has not responded to Mashable's request for comment.
Topics Music
