Robin Thicke Countersues Marvin Gaye's Family ::Robin Thicke News ::antiMusic.com

Robin Thicke Countersues Marvin Gaye's Family

08/19/2013
. (Radio.com) Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" may be the song of the summer, but some are saying that it's not really his song. Namely, the family of Marvin Gaye, who are suing Thicke under the claims that his song and Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" "feel" or "sound" the same. The Gayes and Bridgeport Music, which owns some of Funkadelic's compositions and are also filing suit for musical similarities, are reportedly threatening litigation, should Thicke not pay a monetary settlement.

But, Thicke isn't taking this suit lying down. Instead he, along with the song's collaborators Pharrell and T.I. (under his real name, Clifford Harris, Jr.), filed their own suit last Thursday (August 15) against Gaye's family and Bridgeport Music.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the three are claiming that Gaye's family and Bridgeport Music "are claiming ownership of an entire genre, as opposed to a specific work."

As for Thicke's reasoning for the suit, the court documents note, "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."

The countersuit also points out that "being reminiscent of a 'sound' is not copyright infringement. The intent in producing 'Blurred Lines' was to evoke an era." more on this story

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