Things are looking even worse for “Blurred Lines” co-conspirators Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams.
The plaintiffs lost the first round of their preemptive litigious strike against Marvin Gaye's estate over the 2013 hit's similarities to Gaye's 1977 classic “Got to Give It Up.”
In August 2013, the duo filed a lawsuit after Gaye's estate publicly accused Thicke and Williams of copying the “feel” and “sound” of “Give It Up” for “Blurred Lines.”
Unsurprisingly, Gaye's estate filed a countersuit, outright accusing the duo of stealing music and claiming Thicke had a “Marvin Gaye fixation.”
Yesterday, as reported by The Huffington Post, U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt sided with the Gaye Estate, rejecting Thicke and Williams' motion for summary judgement and going forward with the Gaye family's claim, set for trial early next year.
Kronstadt opined that the “defendants have made a sufficient showing that elements of 'Blurred Lines' may be substantially similar to protected, original elements of 'Got to Give It Up.,'” noting the similarities involving the songs' instrumentations, vocal performances, melodies and harmonies.
A trial has been set for February 10.
The murky “Blurred” waters were further muddied last month when, in a deposition made public, Thicke claimed he was fairly removed from the songwriting process. Noting he was “high on Vicodin and alcohol when [he] showed up at the studio,” he shifted any plagiarism blame to his writing partner, adding, “Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song.”
Stay tuned for the continuing courtroom adventures of “Blurred Lines.”