Ed Sheeran copyright case

A live performance from Ed Sheeran, who’s scored another copyright case victory. Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson

The Supreme Court has decided against reviewing the Structured Asset Sales (SAS) v. Ed Sheeran copyright infringement case.

The top court confirmed as much in an order list today, about one month after Sheeran’s legal team formally fired back against the cert petition. As we reiterated then, this dispute is technically distinct from the similar suit levied by the estate of “Let’s Get It On” writer Ed Townsend over Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.”

However, the SAS complaint also involves “Let’s Get It On” – the plaintiff purchased an interest in the Marvin Gaye classic from Ed Townsend’s son – and was dismissed not long after Sheeran beat the other suit at trial in 2023.

A subsequent appeal in late 2024 failed to bring about the desired result for SAS, which promptly moved to take its arguments before the Supreme Court. Long story short, those arguments and Team Sheeran’s retort centered on protectable elements of deposited handwritten works (not any recordings thereof) under the Copyright Act of 1909.

Once again in the interest of brevity – we previously broke down both sides’ positions at length – SAS voiced the belief that “nothing in that Act states that the deposit defines scope.”

And Sheeran’s counsel made clear the opinion that the plaintiff’s sought changes “would foment vast uncertainty and encourage rampant speculation” in copyright litigation with regard to protectable elements.

In any event, the nation’s highest court won’t be settling the disagreement; like with all case lists, the appropriate document doesn’t specify the reason(s) for the decision. Despite the lack of details, the development definitely marks another win for Sheeran, who’s been fending off these particular copyright claims for more than a quarter of his life.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court may review other significant industry cases in the not-so-distant future. Most noteworthy here, Grande Communications in March submitted a cert petition in its marathon copyright confrontation with the majors.

The justices are expected to review said petition – with a lot on the line for ISPs and labels alike – during a June 26th conference, the relevant docket shows. A different petition yet, pertaining this time to Cox Communications’ own showdown with the majors, is tentatively scheduled for review at the same conference.

Last month, the Trump administration weighed in on the Cox matter in support of the ISP’s position. Evidently, the “bewildering” take didn’t sit right with the majors, which in a June supplemental brief maintained that “the government’s crabbed conception of secondary liability usurps Congress’ policy choice.”