Intellectual Property News and Reports

In this appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Stanton, J.), we consider whether the district court erred by dismissing an action alleging that Ed Sheeran’s 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud infringes the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic Let’s Get It On. It did not. First, the Copyright Act of 1909 protects only the musical composition of Let’s Get It On as defined by the sheet music deposited with the Copyright Office in 1973. Second, we conclude that Plaintiff’s “selection-andarrangement” theory, predicated on the combination of a four-chord progression and a syncopated harmonic rhythm, fails as a matter of law. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

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