Blurred Lines: Marvin Gaye's family take aim at Pharrell's Happy

Marvin Gaye's family say Pharrell's Happy sounds like one of Gaye's songs.

After winning their court case against Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke and TI for copyright infringement of Marvin Gaye's Got To Give It Up, the late singer's family have now claimed William's hit Happy borrows from Gaye's Ain't That Peculiar.

"I'm not going to lie. I do think they sound alike," Gaye's daughter told CBS News.

"I heard the mash-ups - but I didn't really need to hear them," said Gaye's ex-wife Janis. "I know Ain't That Peculiar and I've heard Happy."

However, the family - who inherited the copyright to the soul legend's music following his death in 1984 - say they do not intend to bring about further legal action. "We're just in the moment today and we're satisfied."

Williams and Thicke were ordered to pay $7.3m (NZ$10m) to Gaye's family earlier this week following a ruling at the US District Court in Los Angeles Court.

Nona, who reportedly wept when the verdict was read, said: "Right now, I feel free. Free from ... Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke's chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told."

In a statement following the trial, Thicke and Williams' lawyer Howard E King said: "There was no properly admissible evidence upon which the jury could have found copying. A comparison of the two songs readily reveals that there isn't one note in the melody that's the same, there isn't one chord in the entire song that's the same, and there are no more than three notes in the bass lines, out of 26 notes, that are the same."

He added: "This matter is not finished by any stretch of the imagination".

- Independent