3 Count: The Megadeth of The Little Mermaid

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1: Ed Sheeran Wins Another Copyright Case Over ‘Let’s Get It On’

First off today, Bill Donahue at Billboard reports that Ed Sheeran has won a second lawsuit filed against him over his hit song Thinking Out Loud as a judge has dismissed the case.

The lawsuit was filed by Structured Asset Sales, which owns a one-third stake in the copyright of Ed Townsend’s work. Townsend was co-author of the Marvin Gaye song Let’s Get it On, which they accused Sheeran of infringing when creating his track.

If all this sounds familiar, it’s because the Townsend estate recently lost a trial that compared the two songs, with the jury finding that Sheeran did not infringe Townsend’s work. However, the judge in this separate case didn’t even allow it to go to a jury, with him dismissing the case before a trial. According to the judge, he was able to make the ruling himself, saying that the alleged overlaps are common between numerous songs, not just these two.

2: Danish Supreme Court Says Newspaper Did Not Violate Copyright of Little Mermaid Statue

Next up today, the Associated Press reports that, in Denmark, the nation’s Supreme Court has ruled that a local newspaper did not infringe on the copyright of Copenhagen’s The Little Mermaid statue, overturning two lower court decisions along the way.

The case pitted the newspaper Berlingske against the estate of Edvard Eriksen, the sculptor of the famous statue. The heirs claimed that the paper violated their copyright on two separate occasions, one where the statue was photographed with a mask and another where it was drawn as a zombie as part of an editorial cartoon.

The estate filed the lawsuit, and two lower courts both sided with the estate. However, the nation’s Supreme Court has overturned those decisions, saying that the two uses were non-infringing. The estate has been very aggressive in protecting the copyright in the statue and had asked for thousands of euros for a licensing fee. The copyright in the work expires in 2029.

3: Megadeth Settles Suit Over ‘The Sick, the Dying … and the Dead!’ Cover Art

Finally today, Ashley Cullins at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that Universal Music Group and the band Megadeth have reached a settlement in their dispute with the artist who created the cover art for the band’s most recent album.

The designer in questions, Brent Elliott White, sued the band and the label in February. He claimed that he had not been paid for the artwork in question and that neither party finalized the contract. As such, he argued that he still owned the copyright to the artwork and that its use was infringing.

However, now all the parties have filed a joint notice of settlement and are ending the legal case. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, though an attorney for White said that it was an amicable agreement.

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