That is the question at the heart of a lawsuit that Mr. Thicke and his co-writers, Pharrell Williams and Clifford Harris Jr. (better known as the rapper T.I.), filed in federal court on Thursday against Gaye’s three children. According to the suit, Mr. Thicke and his colleagues “reluctantly” went to court in order to protect their song from claims by the Gaye family — apparently made privately — that “Blurred Lines” copies “Got to Give It Up.”
“Representatives of the Gayes have recently notified plaintiffs that, if plaintiffs do not pay a monetary settlement of the Gayes’ claim, the Gayes intend to initiate litigation for copyright infringement,” says the suit, which was filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles and was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Mr. Thicke and Mr. Williams have spoken about “Got to Give It Up” only as an inspiration for “Blurred Lines.”
“Pharrell and I were in the studio and I told him that one of my favorite songs of all time was Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got to Give It Up,’ ” Mr. Thicke said in an interview with GQ. He recalled that he told his partner, “We should make something like that, something with that groove.”
But suit contends that there is no foul. “Being reminiscent of a ‘sound’ is not copyright infringement,” it says.
“Blurred Lines” has sold more than four million copies in the United States, and its video has been viewed 138 million times on YouTube.
In addition to the Gaye family, the suit also names as a defendant Bridgeport Music, a publisher representing songs by George Clinton’s band Funkadelic. According to the suit, Bridgeport has also contended that “Blurred Lines” infringes on a Funkadelic song, “Sexy Ways.”
Mr. Clinton, who has a long history of his own disputes with Bridgeport, posted to Twitter in support of Mr. Thicke and Mr. Williams, saying there was “no sample” of Funkadelic in “Blurred Lines.”
A lawyer said to represent the Gayes as well as Bridgeport did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/business/media/songwriters-sue-to-defend-a-summer-hit.html?partner=rss&emc=rss