The “Blurred Lines” Lawsuit Has Ended With Pharrell And Robin Thicke Having To Pay $5 Million
Two years ago, a judge declared that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams ripped off Marvin Gaye when making their date rape anthem “Blurred Lines.” The case is now officially done. And those dudes, who knew they were wrong in the first place, now have to collectively pay Marvin Gaye’s estate five MILLION dollars. And I hope you read that last part in Dr. Evil’s voice because that’s what I heard when I typed it.
This mess has been ongoing since 2013 when Robin, Pharrell and T.I. (who spits a verse on the track) initially sued Marvin Gaye’s estate after they accused the three of them of completely stealing the classic tune “Got To Give It Up” and re-purposing it into “Blurred Lines”. Honestly, I don’t blame them either because the first time I heard that shit I said to myself “Someone is about to get sued”. The next few years brought about more litigation, but according to Billboard a judge has finally erased the blurred lines around this case and told Robin “Nah bitch, YOU got to give up this money!”
According to Judge John A. Kronstadt‘s amended judgment, Thicke, Williams and Williams’ More Water From Nazareth Publishing Inc. are jointly required to pay Gaye’s family $2,848,846.50 in damages. As well, Thicke will pay an additional $1,768,191.88 and Williams and his publishing company will pay another $357,630.96 to the Gaye family in separate awards of profits attributable to the deemed copyright infringement against Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up.”
All inclusive, the total award is $4,983,766.85.
They got that covered. Well, I know Pharrell does at least. In addition to the $5 million, the Gaye Estate is also entitled to another payout equaling a little over $9,000 for prejudgment interest as well as a running royalty for songwriter and publishing revenue; which is all legalese for “Ka-CHING!” However, my biggest concern is this; will they start putting “Blurred Lines” back into heavy rotation now that the lawsuit is over? Because I really didn’t miss the song, especially after I took some time to read the lyrics. Any song with a continuous demand of “I know you want it” should have instantly been marked with a million red flags especially when you take into consideration that it’s heavily influenced by another song titled “Got To Give It Up.” Sounds more like the theme song for To Catch A Predator than a classic jam for cookouts and block parties.
Pic: Vimeo