Singer Robin Thicke Sues To Protect Blurred Lines From Marvin Gaye's Estate

Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines is the biggest hit of 2013, remaining at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 for the ninth consecutive week today, giving him the longest run at the top for a male solo artist in five years.  But ever since the track debuted, many critics have noted its striking similarities to Marvin Gaye's 1977 disco smash, Got To Give It Up.  Yesterday Thicke filed a preemptive lawsuit against Gaye's estate, just in case.  The Hollywood Reporter has the story:

According to the suit, a copy of which was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, "Plaintiffs, who have the utmost respect for and admiration of Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic and their musical legacies, reluctantly file this action in the face of multiple adverse claims from alleged successors in interest to those artists. Defendants continue to insist that plaintiffs' massively successful composition, 'Blurred Lines,' copies 'their' compositions." The suit claims the Gaye family is alleging that "Blurred Lines" and Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" "feel" or "sound" the same, and that the "Gaye defendants are claiming ownership of an entire genre, as opposed to a specific work." As for Funkadelic, there's said to be claimed similarity between Thicke's hit and Funakedlic's "Sexy Ways."

Here's a mash-up of the two tracks. 

RELATED: Moby has denounced Blurred Lines as misogynist.