Last week, a Los Angeles jury deemed Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke guilty of copyright infringement for their 2013 single "Blurred Lines". The lawsuit was brought forth by the family of Marvin Gaye, whose 1977 hit "Got to Give It Up" was said to be plagiarized by "Blurred Lines". Pharrell and Thicke were ordered to pay a total of $7.3 million to the Marvin Gaye estate.
Today, Pharrell has spoken on the case for the first time since the verdict. Speaking to The Financial Times, Pharrell said, "The verdict hampers any creator out there who who is making something that might be inspired by something else," and not just in music: "This applies to fashion, music, design… anything. If we lose our freedom to be inspired, we're going to look up one day and the entertainment industry as we know it will be frozen in litigation."
Earlier today (March 19), Marvin Gaye's children released a letter to the public, saying if the artists involved with "Blurred Lines" had approached them in the beginning, a trial could have been avoided. The Gaye family has also filed a motion to extend the guilty verdict to T.I., who was featured on the single, as well as Universal, Interscope, and Star Trak, all the labels involved with the song's release.
"Everything that's around you in a room was inspired by something or someone. If you kill that, there's no creativity." Do you agree with Pharrell's threatening outlook on the verdict?