Ed Sheeran has won his appeal in the copyright infringement lawsuit over "Thinking Out Loud," with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling the song is not similar enough to Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" to warrant copyright protection.

The three-judge panel made several key determinations:

• The Copyright Act of 1909 only protects the musical composition as defined in the 1973 sheet music, not elements from the audio recording
• The combination of a four-chord progression and syncopated harmonic rhythm is too commonplace to warrant copyright protection
• The songs have entirely different melodies and lyrics, making them not substantially similar

This ruling supports Sheeran's previous victory in a related case brought by Ed Townsend's descendants, where jurors were similarly restricted to considering only the written deposit copy rather than the recorded version of "Let's Get It On."

The court emphasized that "basic musical building blocks like notes, rhythms, and chords are generally not copyrightable," preventing an overly broad monopoly on common musical elements.

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