The case presented by the Townsend estate is nakedly cynical and designed to play on fundamental misapprehensions about how songs are created. Much like math or writing, music is limitless in its possibilities but paradoxically required to repeat itself. The notion of copyrighting any chord progression, let alone one as common as the one used in “Let’s Get It On,” makes no more sense than copyrighting the numbers six and 13.
Source: Opinion | The Ed Sheeran lawsuit is a threat to Western civilization. Really.