I don’t know anything about Robin Thicke, but I’ve heard the pieces in question and yes it sounds similar, but I think that could be said about a lot of songs. The writer of the article goes onto compare it to a case involving sampling. When a hip hop artist samples a song, they are taking a piece of the exact song and putting it in their song. To me, that is wrong and the artist should be paying royalties to the people they sample. It’s like a writer that takes an exact passage of a book and puts it in his story without attribution.
Have you ever listened to Kid Rocks All Summer Long, Werewolves’ of London and Sweet home Alabama?