US jury to decide if Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud copied Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On

District Judge Louis Stanton said on Thursday that the jury should decide whether Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ was plagiarised from Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’. However, Stanton added that he did find “substantial similarities between several of the two works’ musical elements”, as per reports. [caption id=“attachment_5837411” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Ed Sheeran (left) and Marvin Gaye (right). Images from Youtube and Facebook @DiscoSoulGold[/caption] According to Stanton, the similarities between the two numbers include characteristics like bass lines and percussion. He added that listeners might even feel the ‘aesthetic appeal’ of both tracks to be quite similar. There was disagreement about the harmonic and rhythmic composition of ‘Let’s Get It On’. Sheeran’s team has pointed out that while ‘Thinking Out Loud’ consists of  “sombre, melancholic tones, addressing long lasting romantic love”, Gaye’s composition is better identified as a “sexual anthem”. Sheeran and the record companies are yet to respond to Judge Stanton’s ruling. As reported earlier, claims state that Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ lifts from Gaye’s 1972 hit. A fine of $100 million has been demanded in damages, reported Variety. The song was written by Gaye and Ed Townsend. The suit has been filed by investment banker David Pullman and the company Structured Asset Sales, which has acquired one-third of the song shares.