Tag Archives: Pharrell William

Marvin Gaye family awarded $7.4 million in ‘Blurred Lines’ trial

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thicke-lawsuit-done

10/26/2015 UPDATE: Check out the deposition videos of Pharrell and Thicke. Apparently Pharrell can’t read music: http://mashable.com/2015/10/25/pharrell-deposition-video/

According to my go-to news source Mashable has confirmed that a federal jury found that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams lifted “Blurred Lines” from Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up”. $4 million in damages, plus $1.6 million in profits from Williams and $1.7 million from Thicke will go to Gaye’s children Nona, Frankie and Marvin III, pending a possible appeal.

This Thicke/Gaye story came to light back in August, 2013 when Thicke actually sued Marvin Gaye’s estate in order to protect his song from what was to come. You can read about that here.

And once again, here are those two songs:

Marvin Gaye – “Got to Give it Up” (1977)

GOT TO GIVE IT UP - MARVIN GAYE

Robin Thicke – “Blurred Lines” (2013)

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines (ft. T.I. & Pharrell) HD with Lyrics on screen

See Also:
Sam Smith Settles Copyright With Tom Petty

Robin Thicke Sues Marvin Gaye

Robin Thicke Lied About Writing “Blurred Lines”

Diet Coke vs. Pharrell Williams

Ed Sheeran “Sing” (co-written by Pharrell) vs. Yacht vs. The Rolling Stones

Robin Thicke/Marvin Gaye Court Deliberation Continues

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robin-thicke-vs-marvin-gaye

This seems to be one of the more high profile music copyright infringement cases that has been brought to light on ThatSongSoundsLike. Deliberations started on Friday in Los Angeles. Here are some pull quotes from AP and Mashable followed by the songs in questions.

AP 3/6/2015:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury has completed its first full day of deliberations in a copyright infringement case in which Marvin Gaye’s family claims the 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” copied their father’s music.

The eight-person panel left Friday afternoon after being told by U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt to resume their deliberations on Tuesday.

Gaye’s children are suing Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and the rapper T.I., alleging their song copies Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up.”

Jurors heard from Thicke and Pharrell, who denied they copied Gaye’s song. Much of the trial focused on detailed comparisons of the two songs.

An attorney for the Gaye family told jurors they could award millions of dollars in damages if they determine “Blurred Lines” copied the earlier hit. – AP

 

Mashable:

Attorneys summarized several days of testimony that included Thicke, Williams, rapper T.I., expert musicologists, record executives, comparison diagrams and multiple playings of “Blurred Lines.” What it did not include was any spins of “Got to Give It Up,” since copyright law only protected its underlying sheet music when it was recorded in 1976.

That means the actual recording of “Got to Give It Up” was not permissible as evidence, which could be a major hurdle for the plaintiffs, who were forced to draw comparisons between the Thicke/Williams hit and the written-out version of Gaye’s party anthem. – Mashable

Here are the songs:

 

Marvin Gaye – “Got to Give it Up” (1977)

GOT TO GIVE IT UP - MARVIN GAYE

Robin Thicke – “Blurred Lines” (2013)

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines (ft. T.I. & Pharrell) HD with Lyrics on screen

See Also:

Robin Thicke Sues Marvin Gaye

Robin Thicke Lied About Writing “Blurred Lines”

Diet Coke vs. Pharrell Williams

Ed Sheeran “Sing” (co-written by Pharrell) vs. Yacht vs. The Rolling Stones

Robin Thicke Lied About Writing “Blurred Lines”

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In an unusual twist to an already unusual situation Robin Thicke apparently lied about writing “Blurred Lines” (2013) for which he was previously called out on for its similarity to Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up” (1977). And in turn sued the Gaye camp for those claims to protect himself. So did he even write the track? Well he certainly wanted credit for it. Here are some quotes I grabbed from this article on Mashable.

“I was high on Vicodin and alcohol when I showed up at the studio,” he said. “So my recollection is when we made the song, I thought I wanted — I — I wanted to be more involved than I actually was by the time, nine months later, it became a huge hit and I wanted credit. So I started kind of convincing myself that I was a little more part of it than I was and I — because I didn’t want him — I wanted some credit for this big hit. But the reality is, is that Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song.”

Here are the two tracks in full:

Marvin Gaye – “Got to Give it Up” (1977)

GOT TO GIVE IT UP - MARVIN GAYE

Robin Thicke – “Blurred Lines” (2013)

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines (ft. T.I. & Pharrell) HD with Lyrics on screen

 

For the original post about this check out Robin Thicke Sues Marvin Gaye

For more Pharrell Williams on this site check out:

Diet Coke vs. Pharrell Williams

Ed Sheeran “Sing” (co-written by Pharrell) vs. Yacht vs. The Rolling Stones