Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams ordered to pay $7.3M to Marvin Gaye Estate
{<2>}
Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams have been ordered to pay the estate of Marvin Gaye US $7.3m for copyright infringement.
Yesterday (March 10), a California federal jury of five women and three men conculded that Blurred Lines had infringed on Marvin Gaye’s 1977 track, Got To Give It Up.
During the week-long trial, both song writers strongly denied having purposefully included aspects of Gaye’s song. Although the jury conceded that they didn't necessarily do it on purpose, they still found them guilty. On the question of whether they committed "willful" infringement, the jury voted "no"; but asked whether they were "innocent" of it, they also voted "no."
During his defense, Thicke stated that he was high on Vicodin and alcohol during the creation of Blurred Lines.
Blurred Lines was at the top of the charts in 14 countries and had generated $16.5m in sales. It cost Universal Music Group an estimated $6.9m in overhead. It was also said that Thicke and Williams earned more than $5M each from the song, while co-writer T.I earned around $700k.
The Gaye family was looking for more than $25M in compensation.