Robin Thicke, T.I. and Pharrell Williams Sue Marvin Gaye's Family To Prevent Being Sued By Marvin Gaye's Family

Robin Thicke, T.I. and Pharrell Williams are suing the family of Marvin Gaye and Bridgeport Music (owners of some of the Parliament Funkadelic catalogue) in order to undercut a possible lawsuit from coming the other way.

Thicke and friends claim that the Gaye family has insinuated that it may try to sue the performers on the grounds that hit single "Blurred Lines" is too similar to Gaye's 1977 song "Got to Give It Up." Bridgeport Music has made the same allegation with regards to the 1974 Funkadelic song "Sexy Ways." Thicke's lawsuit isn't pursuing payment, but rather wants a judge to preemptively declare that the songs aren't similar enough to justify lawsuit, and possibly, even if the songs are similar enough, that the Gayes don't have the the legal standing to sue. The now defendants have reportedly told Thicke that they will sue if the performers do not pay a settlement.

As for Funkadelic themselves, bandleader George Clinton doesn't have any problem with "Blurred Lines."

"No sample of #Funkadelic's 'Sexy Ways' in @robinthicke's 'Blurred Lines' - yet Armen Boladian thinks so? We support @robinthicke @Pharrell!" he tweeted. Clinton has long had issues with Bridgeport Music and Boladian, its leader, so he had no issue jumping on the Thicke bandwagon.

Ultimately the issue of the suit comes down to how much can a song influence the sound of a genre. As a critic for the New York Times wrote: being reminiscent of a 'sound' is not copyright infringement. The intent in producing 'Blurred Lines' was to evoke an era."

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Robin Thicke, T.I., Pharrell Williams, Blurred Lines, Marvin Gaye, George Clinton