Ed Sheeran’s Ongoing Legal Battle, Greedy Heirs: The Dark Side of Copyright Lawsuits

Ed Sheeran’s Ongoing Copyright Lawsuit — inducing a decline of support for musical creativity?

4 min readMay 4, 2023

**Updated from 4 May 2023 5:10pm GMT: Congratulations, Ed Sheeran wins the lawsuit “Ed Sheeran did not copy Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On when composing Thinking Out Loud, a US court has ruled.” – BBC News

Ed Sheeran is facing a lawsuit over his 2014 hit song “Thinking Out Loud” for allegedly infringing on the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On.” The trial began in 2018 and is ongoing. Should Sheeran lose this case, he threatened in court that he will quit this industry. This case highlights the impact of copyright lawsuits on creativity in the music industry.

The Rise of Opportunistic Lawsuits

The music industry has seen a rise in copyright lawsuits, often initiated by the heirs of deceased artists. Ed Sheeran’s case is an example, where a company called SAS (Structured Asset Sales) acquired a portion of Ed Townsend’s estate and claimed that “Thinking Out Loud” copied elements from Townsend’s co-written song “Let’s Get It On”. Townsend’s estate are seeking a share of profits.

Other examples in the industry that were in news headlines:

Gaye’s family sued Thicke and Williams, claiming that their song “Blurred Lines” copied from Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up”. The jury agreed and awarded Gaye’s family $5.3 million in damages for copyright infringement.
Led Zeppelin was sued by Spirit over allegations that the opening riff of 2017 hit “Stairway to Heaven” was copied from their 1968 instrumental “Taurus”. However, the jury found no substantial similarity between the two songs and ruled in favor of Led Zeppelin.
Radiohead sued Lana Del Rey, claiming her 2017 song “Get Free” copied elements of their 1993 hit “Creep”. The lawsuit was settled out of court with Del Rey agreeing to credit Radiohead as co-writers.

Back to the present, in the ongoing lawsuit against Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”, Ed Townsend’s heirs claim that elements of “Let’s Get It On” were copied. Interestingly, while the song was co-written by Marvin Gaye and Townsend, only Townsend’s heirsare involved in the lawsuit. This suggests that the Townsend estate may be following in Gaye’s estate’s footsteps in pursuing legal action against successful contemporary artists. Critics argue that this focus on profiting from the creative work of others goes against preserving the legacy of their late family members.

These lawsuits raise questions about the moral standards and impact on creativity and the music industry as a whole.

Stifling Creativity and Encouraging Homogeneity

Artists have become cautious in their creative approach due to fear of litigation. This has led to a less innovative soundscape, as musicians prefer to play it safe to avoid lawsuits. Moreover, the inconsistent outcomes of these cases have added to the confusion and uncertainty in the industry. This lack of clarity hinders creativity and innovation, as artists do not know where the line is drawn.

Embracing AI Tools to Safeguard Originality in Music

AI tools are being developed to identify originality in music and detect potential copyright infringements, which can protect intellectual property rights. They also help new musicians verify the uniqueness of their work before releasing it to the public.

Sophisticated AI tools, such as ACRCloud, utilize audio fingerprinting technology to recognize songs and compare them against a database of copyrighted works. Another example is Musiio, which employs machine learning algorithms to analyze music and spot similarities between tracks.

Although AI-powered tools can help identify cases of copyright infringement, they have limitations. They can mistakenly flag a song as infringing or fail to detect a copied song. AI tools are useful in protecting originality in music, but they should not replace human judgment. Musicians and rights holders must collaborate to protect intellectual property and ensure proper credit and compensation.

As the Sheeran trial and other similar cases continue to unfold, it’s time for the music industry to take a step back and question whether this litigious environment of copyright lawsuits truly benefits anyone. We should all be asking ourselves if the pursuit of money is worth the potential cost to creativity and artistic expression.

Let’s ask ourselves…

Is the music industry too litigious, and is it stifling innovation and creativity?
Should profit through lawsuits come before artistic expression and creativity?
How can we fairly credit and compensate artists without hindering innovation?
Can technological tools (such as AI) balance protecting originality in music with human judgment and expertise?
How can we promote a collaborative and creative music industry that values the rights of artists?

Before we finish and await for Ed Sheeran’s verdict, let’s enjoy a mash-up of the two songs “Thinking Out Loud” and “Let’s Get It On” by Home Free and see if they sound familiar?

Welcome to your opinions and comments below!

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