Robin Thicke ‘Respectfully’ Slaps Marvin Gaye’s Family With A Lawsuit

You know that popular Robin Thicke song, Blurred Lines, that we’re all boppin’ our heads to these days? Yeah, that one. There seems to be a bit of a legal issue with it. This week, Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and Clifford Harris, Jr. filed a lawsuit in California federal court against Marvin Gaye‘s family and Bridgeport Music, which owns some of Funkadelic’s compositions. What’s the beef? According to The Hollywood Reporter,  at issue are complaints about similarities between “Blurred Lines” and at least two songs. According to the suit,

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 lawsuit continues:

Gaye defendants are claiming ownership of an entire genre, as opposed to a specific work. 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.

Reportedly, Marvin Gaye’s family (the Gayes) and Bridgeport are said to be threatening litigation should the plaintiffs (Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and Clifford Harris, Jr.) not pay a monetary settlement. Rather than wait for the lawsuit to proceed, the plaintiffs are going to court to determine the parties’ respective rights and obligations.