Robin Thicke Files Lawsuit to Defend ‘Blurred Lines’ From Marvin Gaye Estate
Robin Thicke has filed a lawsuit to thwart any legal action from Marvin Gaye's estate and Funkadelic's rights-owners over his summer hit, 'Blurred Lines.'
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the crooner, along with Pharrell Williams and T.I., logged their own suit against the Gaye family and Bridgeport Music, which owns Funkadelic's songs, just in case they both sue to claim that 'Blurred Lines' is a replica of Gaye's 'Got to Give it Up' and/or Funkadelic's 'Sexy Ways.'
The two defendants in the case have threatened legal action against Thicke and are seeking a monetary settlement over what they believe are similarities between 'Blurred Lines' and the copyrighted songs they own.
Thicke, in his lawsuit, claims that 'Blurred Lines' is an original composition.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles District Court Thursday (Aug. 15), states in part:
"Plaintiffs, who have the utmost respect for and admiration of Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic and their musical legacies, reluctantly file this action in the face of multiple adverse claims from alleged successors in interest to those artists. Defendants continue to insist that plaintiffs' massively successful composition, 'Blurred Lines,' copies 'their' compositions."
"But there are no similarities between plaintiffs' composition and those the claimants allege they own, other than commonplace musical elements. Plaintiffs created a hit and did it without copying anyone else's composition."
We must mentioned that the lawsuit makes a point that a song "sounding similar" is not copyright infringement, but the intent in producing 'Blurred Lines' was "to evoke an era."
This is going to be an interesting copyright infringement case. After listening to Thicke's song, we can't help but think of Gaye's funky dance track. Talk about blurred lines. Nevertheless, we are going to let a judge sift through this legal case.
We hope that all parties involved will come to an amicable agreement because both songs are great dance anthems worthy of radio airplay for years to come.
Listen to Marvin Gaye's 'Got to Give it Up'
Listen to Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines'