The move comes six months after Sheeran, 31, was acquitted of copying his hit song Shape Of You at a trial in London. Seeking damages of up to £90m, the complaint about Thinking Out Loud was originally filed in 2016 by Structured Asset Sales, which owns a copyright stake in the late American singer Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the classic soul story .
The prosecution alleges that Sheeran and co-author Amy Wedge “copied and exploited, without permission or approval” the 1973 song, “including but not limited to melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, percussion, synchronization, and loops.”
On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that the Suffolk-based star must face a jury.
The judge wrote: “There is no bright line rule that the combination of two unprotectable elements is not a sufficient number to constitute an original work.
“Although the two syllables are not identical, a jury can find that the overlap between song mixes from chord progression and harmonic tempo is very close.”
At the “Shape of You” trial in March, a Supreme Court judge concluded that Sheeran and fellow writers had stolen a 2015 song written by Sami Shoukry and Ross O’Donoghue “neither intentionally nor unconsciously.”
Giving them £900,000 in costs.
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