Ed Sheeran is expected to appear in a Manhattan court this week (Picture: WireImage)
Ed Sheeran will be back in court facing a fresh legal battle in a long-running dispute over one of his biggest songs.
The Bad Habits singer is set to start a new music chapter next month with the release of his latest album, ‘-’ (Subtract) on May 5.
However, his exciting moment may be overshadowed by an ongoing dispute over his iconic 2015 track Thinking Out Loud.
Jury selection is set to begin in Manhattan federal court on Monday, kickstarting the case involving Sheeran’s song and another classic hit by late music legend Marvin Gaye.
Sheeran, 32, is being sued by the heirs of songwriter Ed Townsend, who have also named Warner Music Group and music publisher Sony Music Publishing in the lawsuit.
Judge Louis L Stanton, 95, will reportedly preside over the case.
How is Marvin Gaye involved?
R&B and soul singer Gaye, who died in 1984, collaborated with Townsend, who also died in 2003, to write his number one song Let’s Get It On, released in 1973.
In 2015, Sheeran topped the charts globally with his ballad Thinking Out Loud, which has gone on to become a wedding favourite for couples everywhere.
Two years later, Townsend’s heirs filed a lawsuit against Sheeran for copyright infringement, claiming that Thinking Out Loud copied the ‘heart’ of Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, including the harmony, melody and rhythm.
According to Reuters, the lawsuit also notes that Sheeran has performed the two songs in a medley in the past and that the two songs transitioned from one to the other ‘seamlessly’.
Townsend’s heirs claimed that they received 22% of the writer’s share of Gaye’s song from the late songwriter.
However, Sheeran argued that any similarities heard in the songs are likely basic music ‘building blocks’ that are ineligible for copyright protection.
Jurors will only be permitted to consider the raw elements of music that make up the composition of Let´s Get It On, as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud is at the centre of the lawsuit (Picture: Rex Features)
The ‘heart’ of Marvin Gaye’s Let Get It On is said to have been copied for Thinking Out Loud (Picture: Redferns)
Ed Townsend co-wrote Let’s Get It On with Gaye (Picture: Getty Images)
Will Ed Sheeran testify in court?
Sheeran is expected to take the stand during the trial once jury selection is complete.
The Perfect singer is potentially facing three trials on the matter; if the jury finds him liable for copyright infringement, there could be a second trial to settle how much he and his record labels should play.
The trial, which begins today, is expected to last a week.
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In 2022, Sheeran won a trial in London in a separate copyright case involving his monster hit Shape Of You.
Meanwhile, Gaye’s heirs won a historic case in 2015 against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over their song Blurred Lines, which they claimed copied Gaye’s track Got To Give It Up.
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Jury selection will begin today and Ed is expected to testify during the trial.