Overview

• On June 16, the Supreme Court refused to review Structured Asset Sales’ challenge to Ed Sheeran’s hit song.
• The Second Circuit had upheld a lower court decision, finding the chord progression and harmonic rhythm in question were too commonplace to protect.
• Structured Asset Sales, which owns about 11 percent of the rights to Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On,’ argued courts should assess actual recordings rather than only the sheet music deposit copy.
• The legal fight tested the extent of judicial deference to the U.S. Copyright Office’s interpretation of the 1909 Copyright Act.
• A separate lawsuit by Structured Asset Sales over its rights to the original audio recording of ‘Let’s Get It On’ remains on hold pending further proceedings.