Technically, you can copyright melodies and lyrics. A chord progression could qualify as a melody if the chord voicing creates the clear impression of a melody.
maybe, but in this specific case itās probably not the issue
Sheeran said that the chords in āThinking Out Loudā are a ācommon progression,ā and that similar chords are used in several songs.
To demonstrate this, he played the chords from āThinking Out Loudā while singing multiple different songs from other artists, including āTupelo Honeyā and āCrazy Love.ā He testified that he did not copy those songs when he wrote āThinking Out Loud.ā
also, this video comes to mindā¦
Summary of hit songs using same 4 chords progression
Journey - Donāt Stop Believing
James Blunt - Youāre Beautiful
Alphaville - Forever Young
Jason Mraz - Iām Yours
Mika - Happy Ending
Alex Lloyd - Amazing
The Calling - Wherever You WIll Go
Elton John - Can You Feel The Love Tonight
Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved
The Last Goodnight - Pictures Of You
U2 - With Or Without You
Crowded House - Fall At Your Feet
Kasey Chambers - Not Pretty Enough
The Beatles - Let it Be
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
Daryl Braithwaite - The Horses
Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry
Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy
Men At Work - Land Down Under
Banjo Pattersonās Waltzing Matilda
A Ha - Take On Me
Green Day - When I Come Around
Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
Toto - Africa
Beyonce - If I Were A Boy
The Offspring - Self Esteem
The Offspring - Youāre Gonna Go Far Kid
Pink - You and Your Hand
Lady Gaga - Poker Face
Aqua - Barbie Girl
The Fray - You Found Me
30h!3 - Donāt Trust Me
MGMT - Kids
Tim Minchin - Canvas Bags
Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
Five For Fighting - Superman
Axis Of Awesome - Birdplane
Missy Higgins - Scar
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ftfy
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Hey thereās no need to make this personal 
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Iām still using copyrighted material all the time and no AI flags me. I obviously completely change the sound of the sample using various techniques until I get results I want. But screw everyone, I will never stop sampling.
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I bet it isnāt Die Antwoord who filed the claim though, but some publishing company. I had a similar copyright claim about 10 years ago on youtube, on one of my own original compositions which got released by a record label on vinyl, I retained the copyright, it turned out that the label had also released it in the download stores via a third party company based in Germany, and it was that company which filed the claim. I successfully contested the claim and provided proof that I owned all the rights and the copyright claim was rejected by youtube.
It was this company https://www.dance-all-day.com/
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I also had copyright claims on youtube and the content was 100% recorded with synths from myself. But i responded and in the end nothing happened and my video could stay up.
In the end it all depends on what you sample, how much you manipulate the sample and how much money you make with it.
Iāll definitely keep sampling the shit out of my record collection until i die. 
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His hair looks truly electrified, must be due to all these ubertechnical discussions about chord progressions. Each time I open the book Jazz Theory by Levine, I feel the same (minus the comfort of the millions on the bank account). 
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Maybe that taught him a lesson and heās going to mangle up his chords with an Octatrack from now on.
Obviously some of the jury are Sheeran fans and didnāt want him to quit.
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I think that was the right decision.
Some interesting info about both lawsuits from Marvin Gayeās estate:
With the Robin Thicke song āBlurred Linesā, Thicke said in an interview that he was influenced a lot by Marvin Gaye, especially the song āGot To Give It Upā.
With Ed Sheeran, during a live performance of āThinking Out Loud", they transitioned into Marvin Gayeās āLetās Get It Onā. That recording was used as evidence.
So if youāre influenced by a Marvin Gaye song, donāt mention it, donāt give any reason for correlation, and deny, deny, deny because that estate might come for you.
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I wasnāt aware of this sheeran situation but I think heās easily as guilty as aerosmith who had to add songwriting credits to their song āthe other sideā for what was recognized, or at least perceived, as borrowing from the four tops āstanding in the shadows of loveā.
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Get ready for SampleGPT, starting at USD 2.oo per month, unlimited*.wav files.
You prompt it āgive me a riff, at 125 BPM, Em, in the style of Marvin Sheeran, but sang by perfect intonation Drake. 25% drunk JDilla swing in the drums, please.ā
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Iāve been trying to get Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem back together for ages. This AI thing may be handy after all. New collaboration coming soon.
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Not to sound too cheesy, but Iām not that worried about AI created music. It lacks that spontaneity that humans bring to the creative process. Unless programmers figure out how to write an āorganic, and ripped on whiskey, a joint, existential dread, mixed with a constant curiosity in seeing what happens when you stack thirteen reverbs that are fed by a Boss Heavy Metal pedal, only to resample, sliced diced, bit crushed and added to an analog delay,and then overdrive into the cheapest and shittest reverb pedal you found at guitar center for $9, and then smashed with compression, and panned 45 degrees to the left and right after being fed through a Midiverb 2ā code. If that happens, Iām afraid my friends, weāre fucked.
But Iām not worried.
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Yeah I donāt want to sling judgement, but how much of this lawsuit was Marvinās family looking for an easy pay day?
I donāt know, Iām probably better at speculating synths and samplers than lawsuits.
And I just want to say for the record that I have never been influenced by Marvin Gaye, so donāt anyone come after me! I repeat, I have never been influenced by Marvin Gaye. Now James Jamerson on the other handā¦ah fuck!!!
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Yes hello. Iām James Jamersonās legal representation. We need to have a little talk sir.
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Son of aā¦!
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