“The Defendants copied the ‘heart’ of ‘Let’s’ and repeated it continuously throughout ‘Thinking,'” the lawsuit said. “The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of ‘Thinking’ are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of ‘Let’s.'”
Grammy Award-winning Sheeran has become one of Britain’s top-selling artists in the past two years, and has written and co-written tracks for artists such as One Direction, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.
The lawsuit came two months after California-based musicians sued Sheeran for $20 million over his hit song “Photograph” in an unrelated case.
Gaye’s family last year successfully sued R&B recording artists Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copyright infringement in another unrelated case over their hit single “Blurred Lines,” winning a $7.4 million judgment.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle- Editing by Richard Chang)
