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Court asks to review Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ legal victory

MONews
6 Min Read

Despite Ed Sheeran winning a court victory last year, successfully fending off criticism of his hit song. think out loud A copy of Marvin Gaye’s iconic song. Let’s get startedOne of the cases may yet find itself back in court.

Partial Owner of Rights to Let’s get started is asking the appeals court to overturn one of last year’s court rulings, arguing that the new Supreme Court decision means previous rulings in the case no longer apply.

Last summer, Sheeran won two lawsuits in federal court in New York in which he was accused of fraud. Let’s get started. One of those lawsuits is as follows: Sale of structured assets (SAS) is a company established and operated by SAS. david pullmanKnown as one of the early innovators of music-based bonds. The company owns part of the publishing rights. Let’s get started.

May 2023 U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Stanton It overturned its previous decision to dismiss SAS’ case and take the case to trial. The ruling came weeks after a jury in another trial presided over by Judge Stanton concluded that Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud did not infringe copyright. Let’s get started.

SAS appealed that decision and argued in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that Judge Stanton erred in barring testimony from SAS’ musicology experts and instead relying on “deposited copies” of the songs submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office.

Until 1978, the Copyright Office did not recognize recorded music when registering copyright for a song and required the submission of sheet music. Let’s get started It was released in 1973.

sheet music for Let’s get started It does not include the bass line that SAS claims Sheeran copied. think out loud. The company planned to bring in an expert who would testify that the musicians would interpret it to include the same bass line as in the score. Let’s get started.

A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit rejected SAS’s argument, relying on the U.S. Copyright Office’s interpretation of the law that only elements of a song included in the deposited copy can be protected.

This is in accordance with the principle that the court utilizes the legal interpretation of government agencies when making decisions. This principle was established by a 1984 Supreme Court decision. Chevron USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council. In that decision, the Supreme Court ruled that when there is ambiguity in the wording of a law, courts must use the interpretation used by government agencies as long as that interpretation is “reasonable.”

But last summer, Roper Bright v. RaimondoThe Supreme Court overturned the 1984 ruling and said courts are not required to automatically accept government agencies’ interpretations of the law.

“It is the court’s responsibility to determine whether the law is consistent with what the agency says,” the court ruled.

The ruling proved controversial. Many have interpreted this as weakening the authority of government agencies, making it easier to challenge government policies and harder for agencies to carry out their functions.

Lawyers for SAS argue that the change means a previous appeals court decision to uphold the Copyright Office’s policy may no longer be valid.

“There is no dispute that the Copyright Act of 1909 does not say that sheet music (whether handwritten or otherwise) is the only type of material that can be submitted as an archival copy of a musical work. This was an administrative implementation of copyright law. Office” lists the petition for appeal and can be read in full here .

‘Very important… To thousands of legacy composers’

There is no guarantee that the Court of Appeal will agree to rehear SAS’ appeal of its case against Ed Sheeran.

Here’s what SAS requires: en banc Hearing means a hearing before all the judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. This type of proceeding is only permitted when there is a conflict between the rulings of different courts or when there are issues of “exceptional importance” brought before the court.

SAS’ attorneys argue that a critical issue is whether a “deposit copy” is the only way to determine whether a song is eligible for copyright protection.

“Getting the right answer to the ‘deposit copy’ question is important not only when: [SAS] and other owners of such copyrights. Let’s get started But for the thousands of legacy songwriters, artists, and/or musicians who created millions of musical works and songs, including some of the greatest songs and musical works ever written, the Copyright Office’s policies left them with no choice. However, in connection with a copyright application, you are submitting sheet music (rather than a sound recording) as a deposit,” the petition states.

If the appellate court agrees to reconsider the appeal and agrees with SAS’ arguments, a new trial may be ordered in U.S. District Court.worldwide music business

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