Robin Thicke, Pharrell & TI Take Marvin Gaye's Family To Court Over 'Blurred Lines'

If two songs share a similar “feel” and a similar “sound”, does that then mean that copyright has been violated?

The family of the great Marvin Gaye and so-called “sample trolls” Bridgeport Music seem to think so, as such they have accused Robin Thicke, Pharrell and TI of infringing the copyright of both Gaye and psychedelic funk legends Funkadelic with their smash hit Blurred Lines.

The trio are on the front foot and have “reluctantly” filed a lawsuit against Bridgeport Music and Frankie Gaye, Marvin Gaye III and Nona Gaye in order to protect their song, Hollywood Reporter has revealed.

Read the suit here:

The Blurred Lines artists open the suit by saying they have the utmost most respect for Gaye and Funkadelic and admit that the song was written to “evoke an era” but that there are no direct similarities outside of commonplace musical elements between their hit song and Marvin Gaye's Got To Give It Up and Funkadelic's Sexy Ways, the songs they are alleged to have copied.

Robin Thicke, Pharrell and T.I.'s Blurred Lines

Marvin Gaye's Got To Give It Up

Funkadelic's Sexy Ways

The suit goes on to say that both the Gaye family and Bridgeport have contacted Thicke and co, saying that they will pursue legal action if the artists don't pay the company a monetary settlement.

The plaintiffs seek a declaration that Blurred Lines doesn't infringe copyright of either song as well as court costs.

Bridgeport Music, a Michigan based corporation who own the rights to an enormous number of Funkadelic songs, has long been a sworn enemy of George Clinton, the writer of the majority of Funkadelic compositions.

His battle has been hard fought for years, but somewhat convoluted. You can read more about it on the Flashlight 2013 website and Clinton's Funkprobosci YouTube channel. Clinton is set to make a press conference in the US on Saturday evening regarding Bridgeport; no doubt this case will be mentioned.