Got to Give It Up

**ronaldj** · March-10-15, 10:51 PM

Marvin Gaye's family and estate were awarded $7.2 million for the Pharrel/Robin Thicke rip-off of Got to Give It Up remake of Blurred Lines. Blurred Lines... I am sorry. Stolen lines. Channelling the groove... not so transparent. The same song. I am no mathmetician. Cannot tell you how many variations there are on the chess board, how many variations there are available in the chromatic scheme of things, hell, Mozart seems to sound alike, the more you listen.

Nobody mentioned that George Harrison got sued for My Sweet Lord parroting He's So Fine. When caught out, he paid up. At least, Ronnie Love was able to afford additional eyeliner.

Ronnien Spector.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · March-11-15, 03:38 PM

Good for them. When I first heard Blurred Lines, it immediately harkened me back to Marvin Gaye's Got to Give it Up , released in 1977. I knew someone was going to have to pay the piper, no matter how much they denied it didn't sound the same. An appeal is forthcoming I hear, which is pointless IMO.

**douglasm** · March-11-15, 06:49 PM

I'm not so sure about this. I mean I'd like to be the guy who holds the copywrite to he original4 bar blues. //it must be worth a fortune in royalties.

**JBMcB** · March-11-15, 07:10 PM

Seems awfully silly to me. Pharrell copies other people's styles all the time - he knows what he's doing. From the explanation I read - Blurrred Lines is in a different key. It has a similar, but different, chord progression [[Got To Give It Up uses the same chord progression as a dozen other songs, including Let It Be) I think it's in a different tempo.

Similar to is not equivalent to the same as. There has to be *something* in the song that's the same. You can't copyright the "feel" of a song.

**ronaldj** · March-12-15, 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by JBMcB

Seems awfully silly to me. Pharrell copies other people's styles all the time - he knows what he's doing. From the explanation I read - Blurrred Lines is in a different key. It has a similar, but different, chord progression [[Got To Give It Up uses the same chord progression as a dozen other songs, including Let It Be) I think it's in a different tempo.

Similar to is not equivalent to the same as. There has to be *something* in the song that's the same. You can't copyright the "feel" of a song.

You are right. How correct can we be. En route to other things, listened to Ain't Nobody White [[Can Sing the Blues) by Mitch Ryder referenced in a previous thread on DYes. I will be hard pressed to say the exact same tune, drum measure and what not parallels Warren Zevon's "It's a Whole Different World [[when you're Scared). Try it on your stereo. 20 or so years apart from each other. Anybody compaining?

**noise** · March-12-15, 10:20 AM

From another music-related copyright infringement case:

"Proof of copyright infringement is often highly circumstantial, particularly in cases involving music. A copyright plaintiff must prove [[1) ownership of the copyright; and [[2) infringement -that the defendant copied protected elements of the plaintiff's work. See Smith v. Jackson , 84 F.3d 1213, 1218 [[9th Cir. 1996) [[citation omitted). Absent direct evidence of copying, proof of infringement involves fact-based showings that the defendant had "access" to the plaintiff's work and that the two works are "substantially similar.""

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/...2000_Three.pdf

**Scottathew** · March-12-15, 11:01 AM

I don't think they sound enough alike, but I don't know all the details of the lawsuit.

**JBMcB** · March-12-15, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by 48307

I don't think they sound enough alike, but I don't know all the details of the lawsuit.

The craziest thing is it doesn't even involve the *song* - the Marvin Gaye estate only holds copyright on the sheet music. So they're comparing sheet music which, again from what I've heard, is pretty different. There's stuff in the recorded song that isn't on the sheet music.

If you want an example of straight-out theft - check out Timbaland boosting an old internet track for a Nelly Furtado song:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbala...sm_controversy

**1953** · March-12-15, 12:12 PM

I think music should be like fashion - everyone puts out their wares, and everyone draws inspiration from one another. To be copied is to be loved. Recognize it and move on.

That said, Bon Jovi's Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars is a total knock off of Oasis's Young and Invincible, but he isn't paying out seven figures.

1953