I’ve blogged in the past about the dispute between Marvin Gaye and Robin Thicke, the blogpost can be found here. Since that post, Thicke’s Blurred lines has claimed many more accolades, including two grammy nominations and being the best selling single in the UK and US for 2013.
Anyways, Gaye’s estate has won a settlement, but probably not the major settlement they were probably hoping for. After Thicke’s lawyers sought a declaration from the courts that his song was in the clear, Gaye’s estate counteracted with are lawsuit against Thicke and the publishing company Sony/ATV. The dispute with Thicke’s estate is still up in the air, but Sony/ATV quickly settled its dispute before it even came close to reaching the courtroom.
The nature of the dispute against Sony/ATV was that Sony/ATV failed to protect Gaye’s back catalog by letting Robin Thicke release a similar song. If I was to venture a guess, the issue didn’t really revolve around whether or not Thicke did infringe copyright, but more that Sony/ATV didn’t actually look into if it did.
Funny enough, if the dispute between Thicke and Gaye’s estate does reach the court, Sony/ATV may be forced to tell the jury why they didn’t think Thicke and Gaye’s song was similar enough to warrant an investigation.
Source:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a543781/marvin-gayes-family-get-settlement-in-blurred-lines-copyright-claim.html
