Judge Rejects “Blurred Lines” Retrial
He also declared that T.I. and the record labels are complicit in copyright infringement.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Judge John Kronstadt handed a mix of good and bad news—mostly bad—to Pharrell and Robin Thicke yesterday in the ongoing dispute over “Blurred Lines” and copyright infringement. First the good: though the jury originally suggested the two men owed Marvin Gaye’s family more than $7 million, Kronstadt knocked that down to $5.3 million.
After that, it's all pretty grim for Pharrell and Thicke. The two men were angling for a retrial, but the judge shut that down. In addition, Kronstadt declared that T.I., who raps a verse on the hit, was guilty of copyright infringement as well, along with the labels involved in the song: UMG Recordings, Interscope and Star Trak Entertainment. Gaye’s family was awarded half of all "Blurred Lines" songwriting and publishing royalties.
Howard King, Pharrell's attorney, told The Hollywood Reporter, "While we certainly respect the diligence and care devoted by the court throughout these proceedings, we must agree to disagree on the conclusions. We look forward to exercising our further remedies and ultimately achieving clarity on the difference between inspiration and copyright infringement."
It's notable that in David Ritz's biography of Marvin Gaye, there are two mentions of times that Gaye stole song ideas from others.