With the continuous mega success of Robin Thicke‘s smash single “Blurred Lines,” the singer and his collaborators are looking to secure their rights and protect the hit.
Thicke, Pharrell and T.I. are asking a federal judge to determine the track doesn’t copy elements of two other songs.
Attorneys for the three artists, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on Thursday against Marvin Gaye’s family and Bridgeport Music, which owns some Funkadelic compositions, asking a judge to determine their song does not copy songs composed by Gaye and George Clinton.
According to the suit, a copy of which was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, “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 suit states representatives of the owners of copyrights to Gaye’s song “Got to Give It Up” and Clinton’s song “Sexy Ways” have warned Thicke that he and his collaborators have used elements of the songs in “Blurred Lines.”
“Plaintiffs created a hit and did it without copying anyone else’s composition,” the lawsuit reads.
“The basis of the Gaye defendants’ claims is that ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘Got to Give It Up’ ‘feel’ or ‘sound’ the same,” the lawsuit states. “Being reminiscent of a ‘sound’ is not copyright infringement. The intent in producing ‘Blurred Lines’ was to evoke an era.”
George Clinton, who once led Funkadelic and has feuded with Bridgeport and its leader over the years, tweeted, “No sample of #Funkadelic’s ‘Sexy Ways’ in @robinthicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ – yet Armen Boladian thinks so? We support @robinthicke @Pharrell!”
“Blurred Lines” is spending its 10th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. It has sold 4.6 million tracks. Thicke is set to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards later this month, where “Blurred Lines” is up for awards including video of the year and the newly-introduced best song of summer award.
[CBS]
