On March 10, 2015, a panel of eight jurors at a California Federal Court found Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams liable for copyright infringement in a suit brought by the heirs of artist Marvin Gaye. The jury concluded that the 2013 song “Blurred Lines,” recorded by Thicke, Williams and T I, bore substantial similarity to Gaye’s 1977 composition “Got To Give It Up,” and awarded damages of nearly $ 7.4 million to the Gaye family. T I was found not liable. The Gaye family had originally sought $ 25 million.<\/p>\n
In August 2013, Thicke, Williams and T I filed a pre-emptive action seeking a declaration that “Blurred Lines” did not infringe any copyright held by the Gaye estate or Bridgeport Music. They contended that the two songs shared only a general feel and that no protectable expression had been copied. In October 2014, the District Court of California declined to dismiss the Gaye family’s counterclaim, holding that the heirs had sufficiently demonstrated that elements of “Blurred Lines” were substantially similar to “Got To Give It Up.” Trial commenced on February 10, 2015.<\/p>\n
Two distinct copyright interests attach to a song. Copyright in the sound recording<\/strong> protects the particular performance captured in a recording; this right governs the relationship between the recording artist and the record label. Copyright in the musical composition<\/strong> protects the sheet music and lyrics and is held by the composer, lyricist and their assignees.<\/p>\n Because the Gaye estate held rights only in the musical composition and not in the sound recording, the jury was not permitted to hear the original recordings side by side. Instead, they evaluated a stripped-down version of “Got To Give It Up” from which Gaye’s vocals, percussion and backing singers had been removed.<\/p>\n The verdict prompted significant concern within the music industry. Copyright protection extends to the expression of an idea, not to the idea itself; style, groove and general feel have historically been regarded as non-protectable elements. Critics of the decision argued that permitting copyright claims over the “feel” or “vibe” of a composition could deter creativity and expose songwriters to infringement liability whenever two works evoke a comparable emotional or rhythmic quality. If courts extend protection to such abstract attributes, the boundary between protectable expression and unprotectable idea becomes difficult to delineate, with potential consequences for musical creativity and freedom of artistic influence.<\/p>\n This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified attorney before acting on any matter discussed here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Blurred Lines lawsuit resulted in a landmark copyright infringement verdict against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. This case has sparked debate within the American music industry about the boundaries of copyright protection and its impact on creativity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":42,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[7063,7059,31,7060,6973,7062,7061,9230],"class_list":["post-21251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copyrights","category-intellectual-property","tag-american-music-industry","tag-blurred-lines","tag-copyright-infringement","tag-marvin-gaye","tag-music-copyright-law","tag-pharrell-williams","tag-robin-thicke","tag-substantial-similarity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21251"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149783,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21251\/revisions\/149783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Implications for the Music Industry<\/h2>\n
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