It appears that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’ “Blurred Lines” lawsuit isn’t going away anytime soon. Yesterday, October 30, U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt denied the two pop stars’ motion for summary judgment, which means the case will live to see another day.
Or many days.
The Hollywood Reporter found that Marvin Gaye’s estate accused Thicke of having a “fixation” over the late R&B icon and amongst other subtle jabs at his character and 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.”
Judge Kronstadt said his reasoning for the denial was the Gaye family’s presentation of the “sufficient evidence” of their claims, which included detailed outlines of a 11-note signature phrase, four-note hook, four-bar bass line, 16-bar harmonic structure and four-note vocal melody. That’s a lot of musical homework.
The lawsuit was first brought about in September 2013 and in January of this year, a small victory was gained by Gaye’s children after they settled with EMI and Sony/ATV Music Publishing for failing to prevent Thicke from profiting off his alleged swagger jack.
“Blurred Lines” is currently the second best-selling digital song of all-time and obviously Thicke’s biggest hit, spending a dominating twelve weeks on top of the Billboard Chart. It would eventually cast a large, inescapable shadow for Thicke’s next project, which flopped tremendously as his marriage with Paula Patton began to unravel in the public eye.
Keep it locked for the latest on the “Blurred Lines” lawsuit as the trial progresses. We’ll allow you to play armchair judge as both songs can be found on the next page.
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Photo: VEVO
