Ed Sheeran is reportedly being sued for $100m (£76.4m) after being accused of ripping off a classic Marvin Gaye hit on his No.1 single ‘Thinking Out Loud’.
Legal documents filed in the US allege the Brit singer copied “the melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping” of Gaye’s 1973 classic ‘Let’s Get It On’.
According to TMZ, the claim has been filed by a company called Structured Asset Sales - which owns one-third of the copyright of Gaye’s song.
It’s not the first time Ed has faced legal action over ‘Thinking Out Loud’ - but he has always denied the allegations.
Marvin Gaye co-wrote ‘Let’s Get It On’ with US singer Edward Townsend - who died in 2003.
The daughter of Mr Townsend sued Ed in 2016, also claiming ‘Thinking Out Loud’ copied ‘Let’s Get It On’.
‘Thinking Out Loud’ hit the top spot in the UK chart and No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album ‘X’ has sold over 15m copies.
Last year Ed was at the centre of another copyright infringement claim in the US over his song ‘Photograph’. He reached an out of court settlement with the claimants over the $20m (£13.8m) claim.
Earlier this year, he was also sued by songwriters Sean Carey and Beau Golden, who claimed he copied one of their melodies on ’The Rest Of Our Life, the 2017 single he wrote for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
The ‘Shape Of You’ singer has since filed paperwork denying those allegations, describing the song he wrote as “an originally and independently created musical composition.”
HuffPost UK have contacted Ed’s reps for comment.