Robin Thicke sueing Marvin Gaye Estate over "Blurred Lines"

[alphanguy74]

http://www.parade.com/65765/harrymarquez/robin-thicke-suing-marvin-gayes-estate/

A pre-emptive strike by Thicke in response to threats by the Gaye Estate and Bridgeport Music. A pretty brilliant strategic move, IMO. The songs are similar in style, but in no way plagarism... the similarities are all surface, and not structural.

[All My Shadows]

Yeah, I don't think it's plagiarism, either. Still, I hate the f!ck out of Blurred Lines and wish it and Thicke would just go away.

[Bright Eyes]

Agreed on all counts. I'll never understand why people think he's attractive either. He looks ugly as sin to me.

[Cheap21]

The guy has swagger! He oozes sex appeal when he talks and gives interviews. He may not be the best looking but looks aren't everything. He makes up for it in other ways and his charisma and presence make him alot more attractive than other guys

[alphanguy74]

I don't think he's ugly... but I don't consider him God's gift to anything. That article was really well written, concise, and makes it easy to understand for those who don't have any real musical knowledge. Even the comparison with TRUE plagarism with the "He's So Fine"/"My Sweet Lord" example, two songs that SOUND very different, but that are too much alike from a structural and legal standpoint.

[Bright Eyes]

I see what your saying, but all that so called "swagger" equals nothing but douchebaggery to me. But okay, I think I've superficially derailed the thread enough.

[All My Shadows]

I don't get his appeal either. I liked some of his earlier songs, but BL is grating, and he's got that permanent [!@#$%^&*]-eating grin going on all the time now, so...yeah. I'm not a fan.

[ChitHappens]

RT and Goddess Paula Patton are perfection as a couple!

[Eric83]

Love him and the song! My fave single by him will always be Sex Therapy though.

[ReddFoxx]

Obviously, it's up to the court to determine plagiarism, but the drum pattern is one that is not oft used these days and sounds similiar. It may just be inspiration, like Emotions by Mariah Carey supposedly had a sample of Best of My Love by the Emotions, which resulted in a lawsuit. A lot of artists are grossly unoriginal these days, so there is lots of suspicion about plagiarism. Drum patterns are hard to prove when it comes to plagiarism, since they are percussive and can be modified in ways that can get around copyright.

[alphanguy74]

Drum patterns are totally not copyrightable. because there are no actual notes played, it's a rhythm. Song titles are also not copyrightable.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

This...he's average looking (and below average if I compare him with even the small sample of guys I'd screwed with in the past) but he has massive amounts of swagger and he knows how to work it. His voice is just crazy....

in dark and after a couple of shots of patron....well lets just say I wouldn't be resisting of his moves....

[frequentsoapfan]

Love After War is my favorite

[VirginiaHamilton]

Considering that:

1. Robin Thicke's whole shtick is a quarter-water version of the late and great Mr. Gaye
2. Pharrell, himself, stated that he was "inspired" by Got To Give It Up

I hope that the family / estate countersue the sh!t out of that culture vulture and the ripoff artist that produced the track and wins.

[alphanguy74]

I don't disagree with any of that, but the Gaye family would be foolish and just spend a ton of money on attorney's fees, and they'd lose in the end. Considering Thicke is not sueing for any money, the Gaye family countersueing would just make them look greedy. Just because you make a song that sounds similar to another one, doens't make it legal infringement. All the similarities are in the production, not the actual NOTES of the song. The litmus test from a legal standpoint, is 7 bars. 7 Bars of a song has to be substantially identical to the other to be infringement. And Thicke's song doesn't even have 3 bars that match. You CANNOT copyright a song title, nor a style or production method of a song. I can bet you that the attorneys for Gaye's family would NOT take this on contingency. Look at the genre of Doo-Wop, and how many dozens, if not hundreds of songs in that genre have the same "sound" and the musical elements, even the same background lyrics. But yet none of them have issues with each other in regards to copyright. Gaye's family are just money grubbing and trying to live off their relative's work without getting actual jobs themselves.