On Wednesday, Oct. 30., two of Marvin Gaye's children sued pop star Robin Thicke over his hit single "Blurred Lines," which they claim copies elements of their father's song "Got to Give It Up," the Associated Press reports.
Nona Marvisa Gaye and Frankie Christian Gaye sued the singer for copyright infringement and alleged that music company EMI not only "failed to protect their father's legacy," but had their executives use intimidation to stop the Gaye family from pursuing legal action. Gaye's children also allege that Thicke's song "Love After War" improperly lifted from Gaye's song "After the Dance," and hope to block Thicke, producer Pharrell and T.I. from using elements of Gaye's music in their songs.
EMI, which is owned by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, allowed a conflict of interest between the "rights and interests" of the Gaye family and sales earned from "Blurred Lines," which topped the Billboard 100 charts for 12 consecutive weeks and has sold more than 6 million copies so far.
"This conflict has resulted in EMI's intentional decision to align themselves with the ('Blurred Lines') writers, without regard to the harm inflicted upon the rights and interests of the Gaye Family, and the legacy of Marvin Gaye," the lawsuit states.
Thicke has denied the allegations of any copyright infringement, while Sony-ATV says it takes the allegations and their role of protecting songwriters "very seriously," and while they respect the work of Gaye, they claim his family has been "ill-advised in this matter."
