Dr Luke McDonagh was recently quoted in The Washington Post on music copyright and the Ed Sheeran case in the United States. The case involves a claim made by the owners of the Marvin Gaye song ‘Let’s Get It On’ who argue that Ed Sheeran copied its chord progression for his own song ‘Thinking Out Loud’.
The Washington Post reports:
‘Heirs of Gaye’s collaborator and “Let’s Get It On” co-writer Eric Townsend sued Sheeran in 2017, alleging copyright infringement over similarities in the two songs’ chord progressions. The trial has been delayed several times since, but as it gets underway in New York District Court, experts are watching for a ruling that could set a new copyright precedent in the entertainment industry. A loss for Sheeran could expand the commonly-understood boundaries of music copyright and mean more claims brought against popular artists who have built off existing songs to create something of their own, said Luke McDonagh, an Assistant Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “The stakes are quite high.”’
‘The 2015 US judgment in Blurred Lines “seemed to change the game,” because the two songs’s melodies, lyrics and baselines were different, “but there was nonetheless a groove that was similar,” said McDonagh. This more expansive understanding of music copyright set a precedent and caused a “marked increase” in copyright complaints against artists, he added. Ever since, U.S. courts have been trying to roll back that precedent, McDonagh said, with some artists accused of copyright-infringement winning on appeal. But “if Ed Sheeran loses here, it could open that can of worms again.”
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