Recording artists Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against Defendants, Marvin Gaye’s family and Bridgeport Music, the owner of some of Funkadelic’s musical compositions. The lawsuit seeks a declaration from the court that their hit single “Blurred Lines” does not infringe Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” or Funkadelic’s “Sexy Ways” and that the Gayes do not have an interest in the copyright to the composition “Got To Give It Up” sufficient to confer standing on them to pursue claims of infringement of that composition. The lawsuit was filed because the trio received continued threats from the Defendants that they would commence their own lawsuit if the trio did not pay a monetary settlement of Defendants’ claims of copyright infringement and the Plaintiffs believe that the songs at issue are “starkly different.”
Specifically, in the Complaint, the Plaintiffs allege that they have the “utmost respect for and admiration of Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic and their musical legacies,” but must “reluctantly file this action in the face of multiple adverse claims from alleged successors in interest to those artists.” The lawsuit claims that the Gaye family is alleging that “Blurred Lines” and “Got To Give It Up” “feel” or “sound” the same. Being reminiscent of a “sound” is not copyright infringement. The intent in producing “Blurred Lines” was to evoke an era. In reality, the Gaye defendants are claiming ownership of an entire genre, as opposed to a specific work, and Bridgeport is claiming the same work.” The Complaint claims that “Plaintiffs created a hit and did it without copying anyone else’s composition.”
Click here to view the Complaint.