Although Ed Sheeran scored a victory in court last year, successfully having the charges dismissed against him over his hit song think out loud Plagiarized from Marvin Gaye’s iconic song let’s get startedone of the cases may still make its way back to court.
holder of partial rights let’s get started The appeals court was asked to overturn a court ruling last year, arguing that the Supreme Court’s new ruling meant that the previous ruling in the case no longer applied.
Last summer, Sheeran won two lawsuits in federal court in New York in which he was accused of racketeering let’s get started. One of the lawsuits was filed by Structured Asset Sales (SAS), a company founded and led by David Pullmanknown as one of the early innovators of music-backed bonds. The company owns some publishing rights let’s get started.
May 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton SAS’ case was dismissed, reversing a previous decision to send the case to trial. The ruling comes just weeks after a jury in a separate trial presided over by Judge Stanton concluded that Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” did not infringe copyright. let’s get started.
SAS appealed the decision, arguing to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that Judge Stanton erred in barring SAS’s musicology expert from testifying and instead relied on a “pre-stored copy” of the song filed with the U.S. Copyright Office.
It was not until 1978 that the Copyright Office accepted recorded music for song copyright registration and required that the sheet music be archived. let’s get started Released in 1973.
The music score is let’s get started Excludes bass line that SAS claims Sheeran copied think out loud. The company plans to hire experts to prove that musicians will interpret the score to include the same bass line as the one above. let’s get started.
A three-judge panel for the Second Circuit rejected SAS’s argument, following the U.S. Copyright Office’s interpretation of the law that only elements of the song that are included in the deposited copy are protected.
This is consistent with the principle that courts use government agencies’ interpretations of the law in their rulings. This principle was established by the Supreme Court’s 1984 decision Chevron United States v. Natural Resources Defense Council. In that ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that when there is ambiguity in legal wording, courts must use the interpretation used by government agencies as long as that interpretation is “reasonable.”
However, last summer, in Loper Bright v. RaimondoThe Supreme Court overturned the 1984 ruling and said courts do not have to automatically accept a government agency’s interpretation of the law.
The court ruled that “the court remains responsible for determining whether the law complies with the agency’s provisions”.
The ruling proved controversial. Many interpreted it as weakening the authority of government agencies, making it easier to challenge government policies and making it harder for agencies to carry out their functions.
Lawyers for SAS argued that the change means a previous appeals court panel’s decision upholding the Copyright Office’s policy may no longer be valid.
“There is no doubt that the Copyright Act of 1909 does not provide that musical scores (handwritten or otherwise) are the only type of material that may be submitted as a deposited copy of a musical work – the Office of the Executive Enforcer of the Copyright Act,” the appeal petition states. wrote in , which can be read in full here
‘Vital to thousands of traditional songwriters’
There is no guarantee that the Court of Appeal will agree to reopen SAS’s appeal against Ed Sheeran’s proceedings.
SAS is requesting on the bench A hearing, which is a hearing before all the judges of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Such proceedings will only be granted if there is a conflict between the rulings of different courts, or if a matter of “particular importance” is brought before the court.
Lawyers for SAS argue that the question of whether “depositing a copy” is the only way to determine what is copyrightable in a song is important.
“Getting the correct answer to the ‘Copy of Deposit’ question isn’t just about [SAS] and other owners of this copyright let’s get started But for the thousands of traditional songwriters, artists, and/or musicians who have created millions of musical compositions and songs, including some of the greatest songs and musical compositions of all time, due to Copyright Office policies , they had no choice but to submit the sheet music (rather than the recording) as a deposit in connection with their copyright application,” the petition states.
If the appeals court agrees to reopen the appeal and agrees with SAS’s arguments, it can order a new trial in U.S. District Court.global music business
