Pharrell Williams: 'Blurred Lines is not a Marvin Gaye rip off'

Pharrell Williams has spoken out about his involvement in a legal battle with Marvin Gaye's family over his hit collaboration with Robin Thicke, insisting Blurred Lines is "completely different" to a track by the music legend.

The Gaye family and bosses at Bridgeport Music, who own the rights to George Clinton's band Funkadelic's compositions, claim Blurred Lines bears striking similarities to Gaye's Got to Give It Up and Funkadelic's track Sexy Ways.

The allegation prompted Williams, Thicke and their collaborator T.I. to take pre-emptive legal action in a bid to protect their song, filing paperwork at a court in California seeking a judgement ruling Gaye's heirs cannot make a copyright claim.

Williams has now given his opinion on the case, insisting Blurred Lines sounds nothing like Gaye's song.

He tells the Associated Press, "I'm a huge fan of Marvin Gaye. He is a genius. He is the patriarch... If you read music, all you have to do is read the sheet music. It's completely different... (Gaye) is the king of all kings, so let's be clear about that. And we take our hats off to him. But anybody that plays music and reads music, just simply go to the piano and play the two (songs). One's minor and one's major. And not even in the same key."