10 Songs That Led To Massive Lawsuits

A controversial hit of 2013, 'Blurred Lines' managed to top charts, win Grammys and provoke the ire of student unions in the United Kingdom. Robin Thicke was catapulted into the spotlight for being front and centre of a song that critics said promoted rape culture. (The blurred lines of the song interpreted as being the subject of consent.) An array of models parade around nakedly in the song's music video while Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. make everyone uncomfortable with their frat boy actions. It wasn't received well then and looks no better now.

While the song itself was a hit, it was noticed at the time that the drumming on the track sounded like that of Marvin Gaye hit 'Got To Give It Up'. The children of Gaye, representing his estate, promptly sued EMI and the song's writers, Thicke and Williams. Estates of artists are more likely to sue than artists themselves as they've no reputation or artistic connections to worry about damaging.

In 2015, a jury found Thicke and Pharrell guilty of copyright infringement and ordered them to pay $7.6 million in damages to the Gaye estate and to add Marvin Gaye as a co-writer of Blurred Lines. Thicke and Williams received sympathy from fellow artists. John Legend and Bill Withers were among those to speak out while critics of the song appeared to bask in the schadenfreude of the legal loss that Thicke and Williams suffered. The courtroom dispute further damaged the legacy of a song with a tainted reputation.