You may or may not remember this, but some months back, a lawsuit was brought against Robin Thicke and Pharrell by Marvin Gaye‘s estate, claiming that ‘Blurred Lines’ was a pretty blatant rip off of Marvin’s track ‘Got to Give It Up’. Robin was high the whole time and Pharrell was… Pharrell, so they sorta denied the whole thing. Unfortunately for them, a judge decided just this week that ‘Blurred Lines’ also blurred the line between inspiration and copyright infringement and they need to pay up.
From TMZ:
Robin and the song’s producer Pharrell Williams are now on the hook for $7.3 million to Marvin’s family because the jury found they infringed on the Gaye copyright for his 1977 hit.
The jury ruled T.I. — who raps on ‘Blurred’ — was NOT responsible for the copyright infringement.
As we previously reported … Marvin Gaye’s kids first sued Thicke back in 2013 for allegedly ripping off the song. “Blurred Lines” was #1 on Billboard for 12 weeks that same year.
Let this be a lesson… of what, I’m not quite sure. Basically that you’ll have to pay back all the money you pretty much stole by blatantly ripping something off and thinking you were slick enough to get away with it, I suppose.
They weren’t the first to steal songs and they won’t be the last. Some get sued, some get away with it. George Harrison did it and had to pay and no one was bigger than The Beatles.