Robin Thicke countersues Marvin Gaye's family over copyright infringement claims

Robin Thicke has seen himself at the centre of much controversy over his recent mega-hit ‘Blurred Lines’. This time the subject isn’t the implied misogyny at the core of the massively selling track, instead Thicke has preempted court action from the estate of Marvin Gaye by countersuing the late musician’s family instead.

As Hollywood Reporter note, Thicke has lodged a complaint over accusations of copyright infringement, and specifically the alleged similarity of his song with that of Gaye’s ‘Got To Give It Up’.

The lawsuit reads: “Plaintiffs, who have the utmost respect for and admiration of Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic and their musical legacies, reluctantly file this action in the face of multiple adverse claims from alleged successors in interest to those artists. Defendants continue to insist that plaintiffs’ massively successful composition, ‘Blurred Lines,’ copies ‘their’ compositions.’

Continuing: “But there are no similarities between plaintiffs’ composition and those the claimants allege they own, other than commonplace musical elements. Plaintiffs created a hit and did it without copying anyone else’s composition.”

Thicke has, however, admitted in the past to being hugely influenced by Gaye’s classic, telling GQ that it was one of his favourite songs and remarking that he told Pharrell: “Damn, we should make something like that, something with that groove.”

‘Blurred Lines’ has been at the top of the U.S singles chart for 10 consecutive weeks.