Ed Sheeran, his record label Warner Music WMG.O and music publisher Sony Music Publishing 6758.T persuaded a U.S. appeals court on Friday to uphold a decision that his hit “Thinking Out Loud” did not illegally copy from Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a decision by a federal judge in Manhattan to dismiss the lawsuit from Structured Asset Sales, which owns rights to Gaye’s song which previously belonged to “Let’s Get It On” co-writer Ed Townsend.
Sheeran previously defeated a separate copyright lawsuit from Townsend’s heirs in a closely watched trial.
— Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Blake Brittain in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis