How Siar Is ‘Blurred L’ To A 1977 Marv Gaye H? – The Hollywood Reporter

Contents:

• LISTEN TO THE MASH-UP THAT PROV ROB THICKE AND PHARRELL PIED A MARV GAYE SONG TO MAKE 'BLURRED L'
• HOW SIAR IS ‘BLURRED L’ TO A 1977 MARV GAYE H?
• MARV GAYE FAY PREVAILS 'BLURRED L' PLAGIARISM SE
• THE BLURRED L OF COPYRIGHT LAW: ROB THICKE V. MARV GAYE'S ESTATE
• MARV GAYE'S FAY WS 'BLURRED L' APPEAL; PHARRELL, ROB THICKE MT PAY
• BLURRED L: MARV GAYE'S FAY KEEPS $5M PAYOUT
• ROB THICKE’S ‘BLURRED L’ VS. MARV GAYE: THE WAR OVER SUMMER’S SONG
• ‘BLURRED L’ INGED ON MARV GAYE COPYRIGHT, JURY RUL

LISTEN TO THE MASH-UP THAT PROV ROB THICKE AND PHARRELL PIED A MARV GAYE SONG TO MAKE 'BLURRED L'

On Tuday, a jury led that sgers Pharrell Williams and Rob Thicke pied parts of Marv Gaye's h 1977 song "Got to Give It Up" to create "Blurred L, " and  award $7. 3 ln to Gaye's the sgers nied pyg the late Gaye's mic, Gaye's children sued Thicke and Williams, sayg the duo's song ged the pyright of their father's part of the Gay' se, they submted an d mash-up tend to serve as "ncrete mil illtratns of the substantial siari" between "Blurred L" and "Got to Give Up.

"This material sounds like a perfect, natural match bee blends sonilly, " says the summary judgment that's not enough, the Gay have two expert milogists scribg eight substantial siari: "(1) the signature phrase the ma vol melodi; (2) the hooks; (3) the hooks wh backup vols; (4) the re theme 'Blurred L' and backup hook 'Got to Give Up'; (5) the backup hooks; (6) the bass melodi; (7) the keyboard parts; and (8) the unual percsn choic.

Will return to Los Angel feral urt on Tuday to fight claims they pied their multiplatum song om Gaye’s 1977 h “Got To Give It Up.

HOW SIAR IS ‘BLURRED L’ TO A 1977 MARV GAYE H?

The sger’s children Frankie and Nona Gaye rpond wh unterclaims that the micians ged “Got To Give It Up” — and that Thicke and ex-wife Pla Patton pied a send Gaye song, “After The Dance, ” -wrg Thicke’s 2011 track “Love After War. ) as well as experts on mic licensg and revenue, who will speak to the damag the Gay uld claim if they w. In recent motns, Thicke and Williams’ attorneys threw the Gay a pyright curveball wh the argument they don’t own their father’s mercially released rerdgs — they only own the posnal elements the sheet mic “lead sheets.

” (The rerdgs belong to Motown Rerds, which is owned by Universal, which turn owns Interspe — the rerd pany that released Blurred L and a fendant the Gay’ untersu. Judge John Kronstadt agreed a lg January and reaffirmed the lg followg an appeal om the Gay.

His cisn enforced that the Marv Gaye rerdgs of “Got To Give It Up” and “After The Dance” uldn’t be heard urt — the attorneys are only g stripped-down stmentals. But more importantly, the cisn means that cidg whether gement occurred, the jury will only nsir whether “Blurred L” and “Love After War” borrow excsively om what’s the Gay’ lead sheets.

MARV GAYE FAY PREVAILS 'BLURRED L' PLAGIARISM SE

The Gay’ attorneys argue that what’s left — the lyrics, the vol melody, the keyboard le and the bass — still remble Thicke’s songs enough to say they’re gement. On Thursday and Friday, the Gaye fay’s attorney Richard Bch lled a pair of milogists to the stand, and the urtroom beme a urse on mic theory wh their ttimoni on what they hear mon between the posns. “Signature phrase”: Judh Fell, the Berkeley-ted head of a milogy nsultg firm, labeled one phrase per song the immediately intifiable “signature phrase”: the openg lyrics “I ed to go out to parti” Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” and the chos opener “And that’s why I’m gon’ take a good girl” “Blurred L.

THE BLURRED L OF COPYRIGHT LAW: ROB THICKE V. MARV GAYE'S ESTATE

Hook: Fell pared “Take a good girl” to “Keep on danc’ ” Gaye’s song.

The Gay’ other mil expert, Harvard profsor of Ain-Amerin mic Ingrid Monson, argued that Gaye’s bass le and s pairg wh a reggae- or ragtime-fluenced keyboard melody were highly unual Motown mic.

That means ’s hard for Thicke and Williams to claim they were fluenced by the genre general, she said, stead of the Gaye songs specifilly. Le by le, the experts pared lyrics cludg Gaye’s “move up / Turn ’round / Shake down” and Thicke’s “Shake around / Get down / Get up. The rap verse “Blurred L” begs and ends at the same pot the song as the Gaye song’s “parlando” — a lyril chantg Fell scribed as “a precursor to rap.

MARV GAYE'S FAY WS 'BLURRED L' APPEAL; PHARRELL, ROB THICKE MT PAY

” The jury looked amed while Bch and Fell pared lyrics om the parlando and the rap verse, cludg pairg Gaye’s “Let me step to/ to your erotic zone” wh a le of T. “Theme X”: Fell intified a short, recurrg melodic le she labeled “theme X, ” heard Gaye’s sung lyrics “dancg lady” unr the ma vol.

BLURRED L: MARV GAYE'S FAY KEEPS $5M PAYOUT

Miller rpond that Thicke’s vols don’t match the Gaye sheet mic, but Fell said the discrepancy is bee Thicke’s theme X match a harmony not wrten but implied the lead sheet. 3 ln judgment agast Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams for pyg a Marv Gaye song to create their 2013 smash “Blurred L. Circu Court of Appeals said Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up” served “broad” pyright protectn, and the March 2015 jury verdict favor of Gaye’s three children uld stand bee there was “not an absolute absence of evince” of siary between the two songs.

Circu Judge Milan Smh also upheld an award of 50 percent of future royalti om “Blurred L” to the Gay.

ROB THICKE’S ‘BLURRED L’ VS. MARV GAYE: THE WAR OVER SUMMER’S SONG

Who add a verse to “Blurred L, ” should not be had award the Gay $7.

‘BLURRED L’ INGED ON MARV GAYE COPYRIGHT, JURY RUL

And Interspe should be liable, but the appeals urt “Blurred L” se has transfixed the mic dtry, promptg bate over the le between plagiarism and honorg works by popular artists like Gaye, whose songs also clu “I Heard It Through the Grapeve” and “What’s Gog On. ” Gaye was fatally shot by his father 1984 at age 44.

Wednday’s cisn prompted a strong dissent om Circu Judge Jacquele Nguyen, who said the cisn let the Gay “acplish what no one has before: pyright a mil style, ” and expand the potential for further pyright ligatn. “We are thrilled, ” Richard Bch, the Gay’ lawyer, said an terview. ”Two of Gaye’s children, Frankie and Nona, lled the cisn “a victory for the rights of all micians.