Marvin Gaye’s Family Countersues Robin Thicke Over Motown Star ‘Fixation’

The family of Marvin Gaye is fighting back against Robin Thicke in court, claiming that the singer has routinely ripped off the influential soul star in the course of his career.

Marvin Gaye, whose music is still a staple nearly 30 years after he died, has undoubtedly influenced the genre of which Thicke is certainly a part.

But the direct “inspiration” drawn by the “Blurred Lines” singer is the subject of the Gaye family’s suit — with several allegations pertaining to specific instances of potential copyright infringement illustrated therein.

The Hollywood Reporter obtained several legal documents from Marvin Gaye’s family’s filing, detailing a “fixation” the members of his estate believe Thicke has on the music of the “Let’s Get It On” singer.

The mag also explains that Robin Thicke is not the only target of the late star’s family’s ire — music publishers are also considered as possibly influencing the situation:

“… Gaye’s family also has set its sights on EMI April, the song publisher now owned by Sony/ATV that has business relationships with both sides. According to the counterclaims, EMI has breached a contract and its fiduciary duty by failing to protect Gaye’s songs, attempting to intimidate the family against filing any legal action, failing to remain neutral when faced with a conflict of interest and attempting to turn public opinion against the family. The penalty for those acts, says the Gaye family, should be that EMI loses all profits on ‘Blurred Lines’ as well as rights to administer thesong catalog of Gaye, known as the ‘Prince of Soul.’ ”

The court battle over Marvin Gaye’s influence on Robin Thicke was actually started not by the singer’s estate but by Thicke and company, in a pre-emptive move to fend off accusations of improper use of sounds.

According to THR, back in August, Thicke and collaborators Pharrell Williams and Clifford Harris, Jr. sought “declaratory” relief against the possibility of a suit from the Gaye estate on the grounds that “being reminiscent of a ‘sound’ is not copyright infringement.”

Per the Gaye family, an interview pre-dating the dueling litigation quotes Thicke as indicating the soul legend had indeed inspired the hit — the relevant statement read:

“Pharrell and I were in the studio and I told him that one of my favorite songs of all time was Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got to Give It Up.’ I was like, ‘Damn, we should make something like that, something with that groove.’ Then he started playing a little something and we literally wrote the song in about a half hour and recorded it.”

When later asked whether Marvin Gaye had influenced the track in a subsequent interview, Thicke responded with a simple “no.”