A jury has awarded the family of the late Marvin Gaye nearly $7.4 million in damages after it found 2013’s best-selling single, Blurred Lines, too closely imitated the Motown legend’s 1977 single, Got To Give It Up.
The award has been made against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke, who claim writing credits for Blurred Lines, while rapper T. I. and the record company, who were also being sued by Nona, Frankie and Marvin Gaye III, were held not to have infringed any copyright.
Marvin Gaye’s daughter, Nona, wept as the verdict was read and was hugged by her attorney.
“Right now, I feel free,” she said outside court appearing to fight back tears. “Free from … Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”
Williams’s and Thicke’s lead attorney described his clients as “undoubtedly disappointed.” Howard King added: “They’re unwavering in their absolute conviction that they wrote this song independently.”
Mr. King has said a decision in favour of Marvin Gaye’s heirs could have a chilling effect on musicians who try to emulate an era or another artist’s sound. Larry Iser, an intellectual property attorney who has represented numerous musicians in copyright cases, was also critical of the outcome.
“Unfortunately, today’s jury verdict has blurred the lines between protectable elements of a musical composition and the unprotectable musical style or groove exemplified by Marvin Gaye,” Mr. Iser said. “Although Gaye was the Prince of Soul, he didn’t own a copyright to the genre, and Thicke and Williams’s homage to the feel of Marvin Gaye is not infringing.”
Richard Busch, representing Marvin Gaye’s heirs, branded Mr. Williams and Mr. Thicke liars who went beyond trying to emulate the sound of Gaye’s late-1970s music and copied his hit “Got to Give It Up” outright. The family “fought this fight despite every odd being against them,” Mr. Busch said after the verdict, which could be the subject of years of appeals.
Thicke originally told the public both he and Pharrell were in the recording studio having listened to the Marvin Gaye hit and suddenly he told Pharrell, “Damn, we should make something like that, something with that groove,” adding they then wrote Blurred Lines in less than an hour. However, Thicke later claimed that his ultimately incriminating remark was all a lie and he did not even help write the song, but instead he took all of Pharrell’s credit.
Pharrell testified that Marvin Gaye’s music was part of the soundtrack of his youth. But the seven-time Grammy winner said he didn’t use any of it to create Blurred Lines, which has racked up more than 7.3 million sales in the US alone.
Marvin Gaye, who was shot dead by his father in 1984 in circumstances never fully revealed, bequeathed his three children the copyright to all his music.
