Drama continues to surround last year's top-selling single "Blurred Lines," although the legal side of things might be cooling down after Sony/ATV settled with Marvin Gaye's estate regarding the latter's lawsuit alleging the company hadn't protected the R&B star's catalogue properly as on of its holdings.
The lawsuits began when members of Gaye's family suggested that "Blurred Lines" sounded a little too similar to Marvin's "Got To Give It Up." Robin Thicke's side filed a preemptive lawsuit to have the track deemed not illegal, which only further pushed the Gayes to file their own suit. The family pushed further, suing EMI April, a holding of Sony/ATV.
The issue is that Sony holds the rights to roughly 30 percent of all published music, including both Thicke's and Gaye's repertoires. The Gayes alleged that this presented a legal conflict of interests for EMI, and therefore, the company could properly represent both sides, and should turn over all of its holdings related to Gaye to the soul singer's estate. That blow would be a major story by itself, but if a court agreed with the Gaye family, it could force other performers into forcing the publishing company to hand over their music.
The financial details of the settlement were not made public.
The settlement will at least stave off those proceedings, but it doesn't mean that the legal battle between the Gayes and Thicke is over. Although Sony/ATV has avoided going to court as a defendant, it may still be called to the stand by Thicke's legal team in order to justify why it had felt "Blurred Lines" did not infringe on Gaye's music.
"Blurred Lines" may have been the bestselling song of 2013, but Thicke may not come away with any of the profit.
