Ed Sheeran's Copyright Victory and Its Implications for Songwriters

A jury has found that Ed Sheeran did not copy parts of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" for his own song "Thinking Out Loud," ending a case that has been playing out over several years. However, the current laws fail to account for how most contemporary pop music is currently made, and popular songwriters and pop stars remain attractive targets for lawsuits of this kind, which give potential plaintiffs at least a small chance at a huge payoff, deserved or not.