Blog 2

Current copyright issue. Current copyright issue. Current copyright issue. Welp, here goes. You remember that song written by Robin Thicke? You know, the one that sounds like a Marvin Gaye song? (that's right i'm writing about Blurred Lines. You brought this on yourself.) 'Blurred Lines', written by Thicke, featuring Pharrel and T.I. apparently sounds a little (or a lot if you're Marvin Gaye's estates people) like the Marvin Gaye song: 'Gotta Give It Up'. Now I've never heard the song 'Gotta Give It Up', but I did hear 'Blurred Lines'. On the radio. Everyday. For an entire year. Maybe even longer. The song was the "summer hit" when it came out in 2013. But that's not how Gaye's people felt. But there was a loophole. According to an article on the internet, (real specific I know, but links will be included down below), it stated: "Coincidentally, it was a legal loophole from the 1976 Act, the cultural expansion of what constitutes “intellectual property,” and the limitations of our current copyright system that set the stage for how the “Blurred Lines” case was argued and adjudicated in the US District Court of California." Gaye's people didn't want to leave empty handed, so they prompted Thicke and his featured artists for "some sort of recompense". The trio responded with a “Complaint for Declamatory Relief”, that "Being reminiscent of a ‘sound’ is not copyright infringement", and that Gaye's people were "claiming ownership of an entire genre, as opposed to a specific work". It was found by jurors that 'Blurred Lines' was, in some part, derived from Gaye’s work. All in all, the song was okay and the video was one to remember.