The family of Ed Townsend, who collaborated with famous American singer/songwriter Marvin Gaye to write his hit song ‘Let’s Get It On’ has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against pop singer Ed Sheeran.
The trial for the case began on Monday and experts say that the heirs of Townsend who filed the suit could potentially receive millions in settlement of the case.
According to the lawsuit filed by the heirs of Ed Townsend, Sheeran copied parts of the popular song ‘Let’s Get It On’ by Marvin Gaye for which Ed Townsend was a writing collaborator. The copied part of the song was used for the making of Ed Sheeran’s popular song ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ according to the lawsuit.
Not only the singer but the lawsuit aimed to sue his label Warner Bros and also the music publisher Sony for ripping off the song which was co-written by Townsend. The upcoming trial is the first of three trials that Ed Sheeran could face based on the lawsuit that argues over the similarities between the songs.
The pop music sensation Ed Sheeran was sued by Kathryn Townsend-Griffin, who is the daughter of the original co-author of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On,’ the sister of Townsend Helen McDonald and the estate of his late wife Cherrigale back in 2017.

Even though the case does not designate a dollar amount for the payoff, the lawsuit filed by the heirs of Townsends wants an injunction to be issued that could stop Ed Sheeran from performing his song ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ which is argued to be copied from the song co-written by Townsend and Marvin Gaye.
The lawsuit also mentions monetary damages and calculations show that it could easily add up to millions, which should be paid up by Sheeran.
The song of the hour ‘Let’s Get It On’ was a result of the collaboration between Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend. The song was released in 1973. The song was a massive hit and topped the Billboard charts that year.
Similarly, the song by Ed Sheeran titled ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ which is argued to be a rip off of the song ‘Let’s Get It On,’ was also a massive hit.
The song was released in 2015 and it instantly became one of the biggest hits of the year, making its way onto the top second position on the Billboard Hot 100 list in 2015.
The lawsuit filed against Ed Sheeran in 2017 argues that the singer copied the heart of the original song by using the melody, harmony, and rhythm of the song for his own work.
The claims made through the lawsuit were denied by Ed Sheeran. According to the ‘Shape of You’ singer, the song ‘Thinking Out Loud’ did not rip off the Marvin Gaye song. Sheeran stated that his work was a uniquely composed one and that the arguments made in the lawsuit against his work were not correct.
The singer also made his stand clear on his court papers where he argued that the song ‘Thinking Out Loud’ was not similar to ‘Let’s Get It On’ and that the claims should be dismissed as they are stopped by the statute of limitations and as there is not enough solid proof to substantiate the claims.
As the procedures following the lawsuit progresses, the trial is expected to last about a week. If Ed Sheeran is found guilty of the accused copyright infringement charge, the Manhattan court will hold another trial too.
It will be those trials that will determine the amount owned by Ed Sheeran and his labels to the heirs of Townsend for using his song in Sheeran’s new work.
According to the lawsuit filed by the heirs of Ed Townsend, they received around 22% of the writer’s share from the original song that Ed Townsend co-wrote with Gaye.
Also, Ed Sheeran is currently facing two related lawsuits which were filed by David Pullman’s Structured Assets Sales LLC. He is a popular investment banker and also the creator of ‘Bowie Bonds.’ Pullman owns a third of Ed Townsend’s rights in the song.
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The lawsuit regarding a Marvin Gaye song is not a new thing for Gaye’s family. In one of the most recent incidents, the son of Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye III, and his siblings filed a similar copyright infringement case against popular singers Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke in 2015.
The lawsuit argued that the song released by Pharrell and Robin named ‘Blurred Lines’ shared many similarities with Marcin Gaye’s song ‘Got To Give It Up.’
The court found out that the claims made by the heirs of Marvin Gaye were solid. This made the court charge Pharrell and Robin to pay the heir of Marvin Gaye a huge sum of $5 million as a payout.
Paul Philip, the lawyer who represented Gaye III in his case against Pharrell Willimas and Robin Thicke said that Gaye III was watching the proceedings of the case very closely. Paul stated that the case was yet another sad example of cases where artists assume that it is normal to steal the work of other artists.
Talking about the lawsuit filed by the heirs of Ed Townsend states that singer Ed Sheeran was very clearly aware of the mistake that he made.
He stated that Sheeran misappropriated protected intellectual property from legendary artists like Marvin Gaye. Paul ended his statement by saying that he is confident that the jury will recognize the mistake made by Ed Sheeran and make the right decision regarding the case.
Late last year, Ed Sheeran faced a similar case over copyright infringement of one of his most popular songs ‘Shape of You.’ The artist was sued by Sami Chokri and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue, who stated that Ed Sheeran used their song ‘Oh Why’ in the making of his hit song ‘Shape of You.’
The final verdict made by the court stated that Ed Sheeran and his co-defendants, songwriters Steven McCutcheon and Johnny McDaid, were to be paid a total sum of $1.1 million as legal settlements.
The verdict stated that Ed Sheeran neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied a phrase from the song ‘Oh Why’ while writing the song ‘Shape of You.’
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