This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Ed Sheeran heads to trial over claims that his “Thinking Out Loud” infringed Marvin Gaye’s iconic “Let’s Get It On”; Drake faces a new copyright case over a sample on Honestly, Nevermind, Afroman gets a legal assist from the ACLU and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Ed Sheeran Heads To Trial Over “Let’s Get It On”
One year after Ed Sheeran was cleared in a copyright case in London, the singer is now facing another trial in a similar lawsuit — this time over allegations that he copied his “Thinking Out Loud” from Marvin Gaye’s iconic “Let’s Get It On,” which his accusers call one of the most “instantly recognizable songs in R&B history.”
Though it deals with a far more famous song, the new trial, which kicks off in New York this week, poses the same tricky question as the last one: Did Sheeran really violate someone else’s intellectual property, or simply utilize common musical building blocks that are free for everyone to use?
Sheeran’s accusers — the heirs of Gaye’s co-writer — say he “knowingly and intentionally infringed” the earlier song, stealing its “heart” rather than creating his own track independently. But Sheeran’s lawyers say he only used a basic chord progression that’s been featured in numerous other songs — something that cannot be “monopolized” under copyrights.
The trial kicked off with jury selection on Monday (April 24), but will actually be getting underway with opening statements on Tuesday.
Need to get caught up? Go read our full explainer on everything you need to know about Sheeran’s big copyright trial — from the legal back story to the attorneys on the case to the potential witnesses that could take the stand.
Other top stories…
DRAKE SUED OVER SAMPLE – Drake was hit with a new copyright lawsuit claiming he used an unlicensed sample on his chart-topping 2022 album, Honestly, Nevermind. The case was filed by a Ghanaian rapper named Obrafour, who claims Drizzy utilized the sample — a short clip of the vocal phrase “Killer cut, blood, killer cut” — on the track “Calling My Name.”
GLORILLA SUED, TOO – It was a big week for sampling lawsuits, as GloRilla was also hit with a copyright lawsuit over uncleared clips that allegedly appeared in her music. The case claims her “Tomorrow” and “Tomorrow 2” — a huge hit featuring Cardi B — illegally borrowed from “Street of Westbank,” a 1994 song by the group Dog House Posse.
ACLU CALLS AFROMAN SUIT ‘ABSURD’ – The American Civil Liberties Union threw its weight behind Afroman, urging an Ohio court to toss out a lawsuit filed by Ohio cops who say the rapper broke the law by publicizing images of their guns-drawn raid on his home. The activist group called the case “nothing short of absurd” and a clear violation of Afroman’s First Amendment rights.
JURY WATCH – Federal prosecutors wrapped up their case accusing Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of participating in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies across two presidencies, thereby ending a trial that included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Jurors were still deliberating as of Tuesday morning.
