Pharrell and Robin Thicke infringed Marvin Gaye, owe $5.3M
Question asked:
“Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke were found to have infringed Marvin Gaye's 1977 song 'Got to Give It Up' with their 2013 hit 'Blurred Lines', and were ordered to pay $7.4 million (later reduced to $5.3 million) after a 2015 jury verdict.”
Summary
A 2015 jury found that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke infringed Marvin Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up” with “Blurred Lines,” initially awarding about $7.4 million to Gaye’s estate. A federal judge later reduced the judgment to $5.3 million.
Sources 59 searched
- Judge cuts $7.4 mln 'Blurred Lines' copyright award to Gaye family | Reuters
He pared back the total to $5.3 million. Kronstadt denied a bid by Gaye's heirs to stop distribution of "Blurred Lines," instead ordering they be paid an ongoing 50 percent royalty of the song's revenues.
- Marvin Gaye family prevails in 'Blurred Lines' plagiarism case | Reuters
(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a $5.3 million judgment against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copying a Marvin Gaye song to create their 2013 smash "Blurred Lines."
- Jury Finds Pharrell, Thicke Copied Marvin Gaye Hit for 'Blurred Lines'
A jury found that Pharrell Williams' and Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" infringed Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" and awarded $7.3 million.
- Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams to pay $5 million to Marvin Gaye estate for 'Blurred Lines'
Members of Gaye’s family sued Thicke and Williams, along with rapper and featured artist on the song, T.I., in 2013 for copyright infringement of Gaye’s 1977 hit song “Got to Give It Up.”
- Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke to pay $7.4m to Marvin Gaye's family over Blurred Lines | Pharrell Williams | The Guardian
Jury decides Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke copied 1977 hit Got to Give It Up in lawsuit filed by Gaye’s children
- Pharrell Williams wins back $2m in Blurred Lines case | Pharrell Williams | The Guardian
US district judge John A Kronstadt ruled that the copyright infringement verdict a jury reached in March should be cut from nearly $7.4m to $5.3m, because the original award was not supported by the evidence.
- Pharrell wins back $1m in Blurred Lines plagiarism case - BBC News
But US District Judge John A Kronstadt has now slashed that to $5.3m. The cut comprises a reduction in actual damages from $4m to just under $3.2m, and a drop in the profits that Williams has to turn over from about $1.6 million to about $358,000.
- ‘Blurred Lines’ Infringed on Marvin Gaye Copyright, Jury Rules - The New York Times
The jury found that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, who share a songwriting credit on the song, had committed copyright infringement, and it awarded more than $7.3 million to Mr. Gaye’s family.
- The "Blurred Lines" of the Law - Center for the Study of the Public Domain
3 Expert witnesses for Marvin Gaye’s heirs made much of these scattered musical similarities. Some of the claimed similarities were as banal as the recurrence of an A7 chord. Even the claims of more extensive similarities were not compelling. One of the key examples presented to indicate copyright infringement involved five alleged similarities in the music that accompanies the lyrics I used to go out to parties in “Got to Give It Up” and And that’s why I’m gon’ take a good girl in “Blurred Lines.” These alleged similarities were: 1) both phrases repeat their starting tone a fe
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