'Blurred Lines' Creators Urge Appeals Court to Reverse Marvin Gaye Family's Trial Victory
It's now time for a new round in the legal saga surrounding "Blurred Lines," the monster hit by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams that was condemned as a copyright infringement of Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" by a California jury in March 2015. On Wednesday, Williams, Thicke and rapper T.I (aka Clifford Harris Jr.) filed their opening brief at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals with the hopes of overturning a judgment awarding $5.3 million in actual damages and profits plus a running royalty of 50 percent of songwriter and publishing revenues.
The appellants tell the 9th Circuit, "This outcome created international press coverage and widespread expressions of concern by members of the music community that, if left to stand, the 'Blurred Lines' verdict would chill musical creativity and inhibit the process by which later artists draw inspiration from earlier artists to create new popular music."
The key to understanding the issues on appeal is appreciating that until copyright law was revised in the mid-1970s, sound recordings weren't covered under federal law. Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" was one of the last songs before a legislative change went into effect, and as a result, only what was deposited with the U.S. Copyright Office was protected. In other words, the sheet music, or the compositional elements.
The "Blurred Lines" creators insist that when U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt took a look at the two songs and what the musicologists had to say before trial, he should have found there was no substantial similarity as a matter of law. Instead, the judge ruled that there was a triable issue.
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Good luck with that appeal you speak of.
