Try to sing your way out of this one, Robin Thicke.
That incredibly catchy song with some very questionable lyrics just got hit with a massive lawsuit.
Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were just found guilty of blatantly ripping off another song to make their terrible hit, Blurred Lines.
Thicke and Pharrell were taken to court last year over claims the pair copied Marvin Gaye’s 1977 track Got To Give It Up.
At the time, the “songwriters” fought back against the lawsuit, saying the material was not similar to the original song. But the music gods have spoken, and a judge has found Thicke, Pharrell and rapper T.I. guilty of copyright infringement.
Which means… Marvin Gaye’s family is getting a pretty little payout worth a cool $7.3 million. It’s a pretty decent figure, but considering the song made over $16.5 million, it could be more.
Related: Rape victims quote their attackers. Words scarily similar to Blurred Lines
“Right now, I feel free,” Marvin Gaye’s daughter, Nona Gaye, said after the decision was made.
“Free from … Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”
Listen to the two songs and see whether you can tell the similarities. Post continues after video.
Thicke and Williams tried their best to defend their song, but when the two tracks were played in court, even Williams admitted they were very similar.
““It sounds like you’re playing the same thing,” he said, then tried to say they didn’t copy Gaye’s original song.
Justice, finally, for Gaye’s family.
Top Comments
This is not the first time songs have been the subject of lawsuits, but anything to do with this guy and you line him up in your crosshairs. It's a touch sad, really.
Exactly. Sam Smith (or, whoever wrote that song for Sam Smith) has to pay Tom Petty royalties because Stay With Me ripped off Won't Back Down, but I've never seen that story published here.