Gaye's children also sue EMI whom they claim has failed to protect their late father's songs and attempted to intimidate the family from pursuing a lawsuit.
- October 31, 2013
AceShowbiz -
Earlier this year, Robin Thicke, T.I. and Pharrell Williams filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against Marvin Gaye's estate to protect their mega hit, "Blurred Lines". They decided to do so after the Gayes claimed that the chart-topping song was a rip-off of the late singer's 1977 track called "Got to Give It Up".
Now, Gaye's family has filed a countersuit against Thicke and his collaborators, The Hollywood Reporter says. Gaye's two children, Nona Gaye and Frankie Gaye, filed their lawsuit on Wednesday, October 30 in United States District Court in Los Angeles.
In addition to accusing Thicke of stealing their father's "Got to Give It Up", they said in the suit that Thicke's "Love After Wars" shares similar chorus, melody and more with their father's "After the Dance".
Gaye's children also sue EMI, their father's music publisher which is now owned by Sony/ATV that does business with Thicke. They claimed that EMI had failed to protect Gaye's songs and attempted to intimidate the family from pursuing a lawsuit.
"Not only did EMI fail to bring this action, which is necessary to carry out EMI's duties to protect the Gaye Family's copyrights," the Gaye's countersuit states, "EMI attempted to dissuade the Gaye Family from pursuing this action by repeated threats and tactics to intimidate the Gaye Family and its representatives."
The Gayes are now demanding EMI to give up the legendary soul singer's catalog as well as all profits accumulated from "Blurred Lines".
