The Supreme Court put the nail in the coffin of a high-profile copyright case against pop singer Ed Sheeran. 

The ruling seemingly ends a 10-year legal saga over the song "Thinking Out Loud," which Sheeran was accused of stealing from Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On."

Pop music copyright dispute

This is the second major legal battle over Sheeran's song, winch won a Grammy and placed No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. A New York jury previously ruled in Sheeran's favor against the estate of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote "Let's Get It On."

"It's devastating to be accused of stealing someone else's song when we've put so much work into our livelihoods," Sheeran said at the time.

The difference between influence and plagiarism in the music industry is sometimes blurry and is arguably getting fuzzier in an era of increasingly derivative pop music.

Throughout his legal battle, Sheeran argued his song uses common chord progressions, but the owners of "Let's Get It On" have argued Sheeran's song is substantially similar.

The argument hasn't found favor in federal court, however. The Supreme Court rejected a petition from the company Structured Asset Sales, owned by investment banker David Pullman, to revive a separate lawsuit over its stake in Gaye's song.

“The rights of thousands of legacy musical composers and artists, of many of the most beloved and enduring pieces of popular music, are at the center of the controversy,” the company's attorneys told the Supreme Court.

Legal saga over

The Supreme Court upheld a ruling of the 2nd Circuit Appeals Court, which had found the disputed musical elements were too common to be copyrighted.

"And no reasonable jury could find that the two songs, taken as a whole, are substantially similar in light of their dissimilar melodies and lyrics," Judge Michael Park wrote for the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The family of Marvin Gaye has been notoriously defensive of the soul singer's music. The Gaye estate won a copyright battle against Robin Thicke and Pharell Williams over the song "Blurred Lines," which has a groove similar to the Gaye song "Got To Get It On."

This isn't the first time Sheeran has been sued over copyright issues, having previously won a separate battle over his song "Shape Of You."

"It's a huge relief," said Amy Wadge, who co-wrote "Thinking Out Loud" with Sheeran in 2014. "It's been rolling news under my life for 10 years but, yes, it's done.