A judge on Thursday denied Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit that accuses their blockbuster hit “Blurred Lines” of borrowing way too much from Marvin Gaye’s 1977 classic “Got to Give It Up.’
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two musicians filed a lawsuit in September 2014 after receiving threats from Gaye’s family. The lawsuit sought declaratory relief that “Blurred Lines” was non-infringing, painting the defendant as attempting to claim ownership of an entire genre.
That led to a countersuit where the Gaye camp asserted that the song was indeed infringing, that Thicke had a “Marvin Gaye fixation,” and that he had also stolen a second song, “Love After War” from Gaye’s “After the Dance.”
As previously reported, both sides came to court with musicologists, presented mash-ups, debated the nuances of copyright law and even addressed Thicke’s wild deposition comments admitting drug abuse and lying to the media.
The end result, handed down today, is U.S. District Judge Kronstadt’s conclusion that the case shouldn’t end now. A trial is currently scheduled for February 10, 2015.
The Gaye family, he writes, “have made a sufficient showing that elements of ‘Blurred Lines’ may be substantially similar to protected, original elements of ‘Got to Give It Up.’ Defendants have identified these with particularity for purposes of analytic dissection.”
Read more at https://www.eurweb.com/2014/10/robin-thicke-pharrell-lose-legal-round-against-marvin-gayes-family/#zMTZO2hPJGDjjEBA.99