March 12, 2015
e Entertainment
Gaye’s family has long argued that the 2013 smash hit “Blurred Lines” was a complete rip-off of their father’s 1977 song “Got to Give Up,” so they sued Thicke, Williams and Rapper T.I. for their involvement in creating the song. However, Thicke and Williams each argued the song was an original composition and although it may have sounded similar to the Marvin Gaye hit, it was not the same song. Williams even testified that the 2 songs share “feel — not infringement.”
Now, in a landmark decision for the songwriting industry, a Los Angeles jury has ruled in favor of the Marvin Gaye estate and ordered “Blurred Lines” songwriters Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams to pay $7.3 million to the family of Marvin Gaye for copyright infringement.
“Right now, I feel free,” Marvin Gaye’s daughter, Nona Gaye, said after the verdict. “Free from … Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”
The attorney for the Gaye family, Richard Busch, will also seek to halt sales of “Blurred Lines,” and said he will file official paperwork by next week.
“Blurred Lines,” nominated for record of the year at the 2013 Grammys, was No. 1 on the Billboard single charts for 10 consecutive weeks and since its release, has made nearly $16.5 million, with Williams and Thicke raking in over $5 million each.
Now, some of those millions will be going to the Marvin Gaye family and of course, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams are planning to appeal.
CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW, WHICH INCLUDES PORTIONS OF ROBIN THICKE’S SONG NEXT TO MARVIN GAYE’S SONG, THEN YOU DECIDE IF IT’S THE SAME OR NOT.
