Rob Thicke’s ‘Blurred L’ vs. Marv Gaye: The War Over Summer’s Song – The Hollywood Reporter

Contents:

• MARV GAYE TATE VS ROB THICKE AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS
• ROB THICKE’S ‘BLURRED L’ VS. MARV GAYE: THE WAR OVER SUMMER’S SONG
• ROB THICKE'S SONG SOUNDS LIKE MARV GAYE. SO HE'S SUG GAYE'S FAY.
• HOW SIAR IS ‘BLURRED L’ TO A 1977 MARV GAYE H?
• ROB THICKE, PHARRELL WILLIAMS TO PAY $5 LN TO MARV GAYE TATE FOR 'BLURRED L'
• MARV GAYE’S ESTATE SU ROB THICKE FOR ‘BLURRED L’ AND MORE
• WILLIAMS V. GAYE: “BLURRED L” APPEAL HEARG CENTERS ON ADMISSIBILY OF EVINCE ABOUT ORIGAL SOUND RERDG
• ROB THICKE VS. MARV GAYE: IS ‘BLURRED L’ A SOUND-ALIKE? (POLL)
• ROB THICKE, YOU’RE NO MARV GAYE
• ESTATE OF MARV GAYE VS. ROB THICKE, ET. AL.
• MARV GAYE'S FAY WS 'BLURRED L' APPEAL; PHARRELL, ROB THICKE MT PAY
• TOP BS NEGOTIATNS OF 2013: ROB THICKE VERS MARV GAYE
• PHARRELL WILLIAMS AND ROB THICKE TO PAY $7.4M TO MARV GAYE'S FAY OVER BLURRED L
• ‘BLURRED L’ INGED ON MARV GAYE COPYRIGHT, JURY RUL
• MARV GAYE’S ESTATE. V. ROB THICKE

MARV GAYE TATE VS ROB THICKE AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS

Release of the album Blurred L" reprentativ of Marv Gaye's tate and Funkalic's publisher Bridgeport Mic separately ntacted Williams and Thicke allegg that Blurred L ged the pyrights the posns Sexy Ways and Got To Give It Up, and that if they do not "pay a moary settlement of the... The wrers of Blurred L, Pharrell Williams, Rob Thicke and Calv Harris, reacted by "reluctantly" filg a plat for claratory relief on 15 Augt 2013 agast the three children of Marv Gaye, and Bridgeport Mic, the publishers of Funkalic's song Sexy Ways, which had been released 1974. Before the trial began the district urt led that the Gaye tate uld prent sound rerdgs that had been eded to pture only elements reflected the sheet mic 'pos py', and as a nsequence of this the mercial sound rerdg of Got To Give It Up was not played at the trial.

3m after a relculatn of the profs ma om publishg and label revenu of Blurred L, but wh an orr to pay 50% of future royalti om Blurred L to the Gaye fay, stead of placg an junctn on distributn of Blurred L, as had been requted by the Gaye fay. On 24 Augt 2016 the Blurred L thors lodged an appeal brief wh the 9th Circu Court of Appeals LA, on the grounds that the jury had been wrongly stcted to nsir unprotectable elements of the mic, that there had been improper admissn of expert ttimony (particularly that the Gaye milogists' ttimony referred to elements not prent the sheet mic), and lack of evince supportg the verdict, matag that there is no extrsic or trsic siary between the two songs.

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

It stat that "the majory [verdict at appeal] allows the Gay to acplish what no one has before: pyright a mil style", ntug that "strik a vastatg blow to future micians and posers everywhere. The document requtg a jury trial on behalf of the Gaye fay claims that Blurred L pi "quantatively and qualatively distct, important, and regnizable portns of Got To Give It Up", which "greatly enhanc the mil and fancial value of Blurred L". They further argued that the siari argued by the Gaye fay's milogist "do not reflect material that is origal to [Got To] Give [It Up]" - suggtg that all of the mil elements qutn are mon mic and unprotectable.

ROB THICKE'S SONG SOUNDS LIKE MARV GAYE. SO HE'S SUG GAYE'S FAY.

IP Watchdog 8th January 2018 article by Profsor Sean O'Connor, argug that the gement cisn was rrect, and cludg an image of the origal Marv Gaye sheet mic pos at the US Copyright Office. Compare and ntrast the two songs by listeng to the troductn to Blurred L, by Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams followed by the openg sectn of Marv Gaye's Got to Give Up.

15 seekg a lg that his summer h “Blurred L” is not a py of Marv Gaye‘s 1977 classic “Got to Give It Up, ” he renewed a ntroversy that has simmered sce the dawn of pop mic. On the other hand, the Gay’ lawyer, Richard Bch, likely will make the se that the war over the song of summer 2013 isn’t much different than the one over the song of summer 1963. "Blurred L, " this year's song of the summer*, sounds a lot like Marv Gaye's "Got to Give It Up, " one of the songs of the summer of 1977.

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

In fact, sounds so much like the Marv Gaye song that Rob Thicke and the other guys behd Blurred L have lnched a preemptive strike: They filed a lawsu agast Marv Gaye's fay. " Members of Marv Gaye's fay have reportedly been askg for a sh settlement and threateng to sue, acrdg to the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story. The first paragraph on the plat manag to both praise Gaye and brag about the succs of Blurred L (emphasis ours): Platiffs, who have the utmost rpect for and admiratn of Marv Gaye...

" The plat ntu: The basis of the Gaye fendants' claims is that "Blurred L" and "Got To Give It Up" "feel" or "sound" the same. 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.

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.

ROB THICKE, PHARRELL WILLIAMS TO PAY $5 LN TO MARV GAYE TATE FOR 'BLURRED L'

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.

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.

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.

MARV GAYE’S ESTATE SU ROB THICKE FOR ‘BLURRED L’ AND MORE

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.

” 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. 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.

WILLIAMS V. GAYE: “BLURRED L” APPEAL HEARG CENTERS ON ADMISSIBILY OF EVINCE ABOUT ORIGAL SOUND RERDG

Rob Thicke, Pharrell Williams to pay $5 ln to Marv Gaye tate for 'Blurred L'The five-year legal battle has end wh a verdict favor of Mart Gaye's tate, who sued claimg "Blurred L" pied Gaye's "Got To Give It Up"Sger Pharrell Williams and sger Rob Thicke perform together Fayetteville, Arkansas, on June 6, Wilkg / Rters fileDec. 13, 2018, 8:24 PM UTCThe long drawn-out pyright battle over Rob Thicke’s 2013 song “Blurred L” has end after a judge orred Thicke and Pharrell Williams to pay almost $5 ln to Marv Gaye’s tate the se’s fal lg.

6 lg, a judge the Central District of California reaffirmed the March lg, clarg Thicke, Williams, and More Water From Nazareth Publishg mt pay Gaye’s tate $2.

ROB THICKE VS. MARV GAYE: IS ‘BLURRED L’ A SOUND-ALIKE? (POLL)

Was cleared of any liabily March, a cisn upheld this last and fal Gaye tate was also reward half of the song’s nng royalti om after the urt’s origal judgment date, and tert of 0. In 2016, more than 200 micians, cludg Jennifer Hudson and Hans Zimmer, filed an amic brief support of Thicke and Williams appeal, claimg the verdict would be “very dangero” to the mic the Gaye fay first filed their lawsu, other high-profile artists like Lana Del Rey and Mark Ronson have been siarly KslenBen Kslen is a reporter for NBC News. A judge has entered a nearly $5 ln judgment agast Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams favor of Marv Gaye’s fay the long-nng lawsu volvg pyright gement surroundg Thicke and Williams’ song “Blurred L” and Gaye’s 1977 h “Got to Give It Up, ” Billboard reports.

ROB THICKE, YOU’RE NO MARV GAYE

Addnally, The Gaye fay is entled to receive prejudgment tert on the damag award and rpective profs agast each of them, which totals to $9097.

ESTATE OF MARV GAYE VS. ROB THICKE, ET. AL.

The fay ially claimed that Thicke’s h plagiarized the soul in’s 1977 track “Got to Give It Up” – and now, they’re sistg that the sger stole om two of Gaye’s songs. – preemptively sued Gaye’s tate after plats (as well as the group Funkalic), claimg that “Blurred L” was “starkly different” om “Got to Give It Up.

” Now Gaye’s fay have filed a untersu agast Thicke that claims he not only ripped off “Got to Give It Up” but that he also ged on the pyright to Gaye’s song “After the Dance” for the tle track of his 2011 album Love After War.

Legal papers also suggt that they’re eyeg other songs Thicke’s talog over the sger’s alleged “Marv Gaye fixatn, ” acrdg to the Hollywood Reporter. In their su, the Gay acce Thicke of wrg a siar chos, melody and more his song “Love After War, ” wh regard to Gaye’s “After the Dance. ” They also acce Thicke of “cludg the siar bridge and intil lyrics om Marv Gaye’s ‘I Want You’ [his] siarly-themed work, ‘Make U Love Me.

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

Acrdg to THR, Gaye’s fay acc the mic publisher of not protectg the sger’s songs, attemptg to sre them away om takg legal reurse, givg up ntraly when the nflict of tert arose and tryg to draw public support away om the fay. It claims they acced the Gay of “g an credible song, ” “killg the goose that laid the goln egg” and sullyg the opportuny for “Blurred L” to w an MTV Vio Mic Award, as well as stiflg s chanc for wng a Grammy. In the 2015 trial urt proceedgs, the jury renred a verdict fdg Pharrell Williams and Rob Thicke liable for pyright gement, based on the “substantial siary” of their song “Blurred L” to the 1977 Marv Gaye h “Got To Give It Up.

” Gaye’s rerdg was released 1977, when sound rerdgs were not protected by the then-effective Copyright Act of 1909; only the pyright the origal posn was protectable.

In 2015, Profsor Jennifer Jenks of De Law School poted out that “[m]any of the featur that make the songs sound siar—cludg the falsetto and the e of a wbell to provi rhythmic accents—were not part of Gaye’s posn. Bee Gaye never wrote the song down and the lead sheet was later prepared by a transcriber, she argued, the origal rerdg was the bt evince of Gaye’s pyright the posn.

TOP BS NEGOTIATNS OF 2013: ROB THICKE VERS MARV GAYE

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe heirs of Ed Townsend, who -wrote “Let’s Get It On” wh Marv Gaye, had acced the pop star of pyg “Thkg Out Loud. “Y, Amy Wadge and I wrote the song ‘Thkg Out Loud, ’” he Newman/Associated PrsIn a closely watched mic pyright trial, jurors ultimately sid wh Ed Sheeran, who had been acced of pyg his Grammy-wng ballad “Thkg Out Loud” om Marv Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On.

”ImageEd Townsend was a songwrer and producer who llaborated wh Gaye on the “Let’s Get It On” Ochs Archiv/Getty ImagWhat parts of the songs are dispute? The trial was watched closely mic and legal circl as the latt example a seri of s that have alt wh whether monplace bs of harmony or melody n be owned by any poser or are part of the public trend began 2015 when a jury found that Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams, their h “Blurred L, ” had ged on the pyright of another Gaye tune, “Got to Give It Up, ” and they were orred to pay more than $5 ln damag.

Marv Gaye’s fay has acced Thicke’s smash sgle of plagiarizg “Got To Give It Up, ” the R&B legend’s 1977 dance sgle which he wrote and posed. Billboard has also learned that Thicke’s teams offered a six-figure sum to Gaye’s fay orr to prevent an impendg lawsu — and the fay turned down the offer.

PHARRELL WILLIAMS AND ROB THICKE TO PAY $7.4M TO MARV GAYE'S FAY OVER BLURRED L

Ron Sadoff, a profsor at New York Universy’s Stehardt School and Director of Programs Srg for Film and Multimedia and Songwrg at Stehardt’s Department of Mic and Performg Arts Profsns, told Billboard that “Blurred L” may have “been spired by” Gaye’s 1977 song, but that the parisons should stop there. “We’re not happy wh the way that he went about dog bs let alone sug for somethg where he clearly got his spiratn om at the least, ” Gaye III told TMZ. When I first heard Rob Thicke’s “Blurred L, ” my reactn was the same as lns of other R&B fans: “Hey, that’s Marv Gaye’s ‘Got to Give It Up.

I wasn’t entirely surprised, sce some years earlier Thicke’s “Love After War” was a virtual lift of Marv’s “After the Dance” – jt as his “Milln Dolla Baby” shamelsly pied Gaye’s “Trouble Man.

A jury led Tuday that Pharrell Williams and Rob Thicke pied Marv Gaye on their 2013 h “Blurred L, ” awardg the Gaye fay nearly $7.

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

You don’t have to be traed mician to spot the siari between soundFile=| startPosn=1| endPosn=5750| ntent= “Blurred L” and Gaye’s 1977 song soundFile=| startPosn=1| endPosn=7500| ntent= “Got to Give It Up. ” Listen for yourself: Both beg wh skterg, light-on-their-feet dm beats punctuated by a few pulsg bass not; both Gaye and Thicke beg the track showg off their falsettos, though Thicke drops the high not shortly after.

Williams argued that he had jt been “channelg that feelg, that late-’70s feelg” (and you n’t pyright feelgs), but Gaye’s pyright applied only to the sheet mic versn of the song—the jury didn’t even hear the official rerdg urt—which means the se me down to the actual nuts and bolts of the songwrg.

Pharrell Williams and Rob Thicke had a certified h on their hands wh 2013’s "Blurred L, " a Billboard Song of the Summer that seemed to many listeners to borrow om Marv Gaye’s qutsential 1977 h “Got To Give It Up. Wh the Circu Court fdg favor of the Gaye tate, means that artists might nsir errg on the si of utn and extreme due diligence when to the forc that lead to song or beat creatn.

MARV GAYE’S ESTATE. V. ROB THICKE

Bee 's mighty difficult to listen to Stevie Wonr, Marv Gaye and Dnne Warwick your whole life and not some way be spired by their mic a way that might meld wh or fluence your own origal works later life. That's bee the song was excellent and will ntue to garner streams and sps, so Gaye’s fay stands to prof nsirably om the age and future age if the song ntu to circulate. The attorney for some members of the Gaye fay says the se played out well, and he also says he believ the Gaye fay would have pursued this lawsu even if the song wasn't a smash h.

It regniz that the jury properly found that 'Blurred L' pied Marv Gaye’s groundbreakg 1977 h 'Got to Give It Up, '" said Richard Bch, an attorney for some of the Gaye fay members. It was a dispute that left many scratchg their heads: Augt, sger and songwrer Rob Thicke and the two wrg partners behd his breakout h “Blurred L, ” sued the fay of the ceased Marv Gaye a preemptive strike and asked for unspecified damag. Thicke had prevly acknowledged Gaye’s 1977 h “Got to Give It Up” as an spiratn for “Blurred L, ” but he and his wrers sisted they had not mted pyright gement.