Ed Sheeran Sued Over Allegedly Copying Marvin Gaye's Hit 'Let's Get It On'

Ed Sheeran has been hit with a copyright suit over his mega-hit Thinking Out Loud, with Ed Townsend's heirs saying he stole from Marvin Gaye's classic Let's Get It On.

The late Ed Townsend wrote the steamy 1973 hit with the soul singer and held the copyright.

"The melodic, harmonic and rhythmic compositions of 'Thinking' are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition from 'Let's,"' said the lawsuit filed in a US federal court in New York.

The plaintiffs said that the British songwriter has ignored their warnings and explicitly referenced Let's Get It On in concert.

While the lawsuit did not specify further, a video on YouTube of a 2014 concert in Zurich shows Sheeran performing Thinking Out Loud on his guitar and transitioning to Let's Get It On.

Townsend's heirs sought a jury trial in which they hope to stop Sheeran from further performances of Thinking Out Loud as well as damages and profits from the song, with the amount to be determined in court.

The 25-year-old Sheeran has quickly become an international superstar through Thinking Out Loud, a ballad that has turned into a wedding favourite.

The song was the first to reach 500 million streams on Spotify and Sheeran's album X is one of the top-selling British albums so far this century.

Sheeran, who was sued personally along with his affiliated labels and publishers, did not immediately respond to the lawsuit.