Robin Thicke and Pharrell must hand over $5.3M to the family of Marvin Gaye for Blurred Lines

Everybody pay up: Robin Thicke and Pharrell must hand over $5.3M to the family of Marvin Gaye and split Blurred Lines royalties with the singer’s estate after ripping off his song Got to Give It Up

  • A judge affirmed the $5.3 million judgment that was first made in 2015
  • Thicke, Pharrell and the publishing company that released the songs will be responsible for $2.9 million 
  • Thicke himself will have to pay $1.7 million 
  • The remaining $357,631 will come from Pharrell and the publishing company
  • In addition, all remaining royalties will be split with Marvin Gaye’s estate 

The lines are no longer blurred for Robin Thicke and Pharrell, who have been ordered by a California Circuit Court judge to pay $5.3 million to the estate of Marvin Gaye.

The decision by Judge John A. Kronstadt affirmed the ruling he made three years ago, and provided a break down for how much was to be paid by the two men. 

Thicke, Pharrell and the publishing company that released the songs will be responsible for $2.9 million of the fine while Thicke himself will have to pay $1.7 million.

The remaining $357,631 will come from Pharrell and the publishing company.

In addition, all remaining royalties will be split with Gaye’s estate.  

Robin Thicke, Pharrell and the publishing company that released the songs will be responsible for $2.9 million

A jury sided with Gaye’s family back in 2015 after they filed a complaint contending that Blurred Lines lifted sections of Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit Got to Give It Up.

Jurors also found that rapper T.I., who received songwriting credit and a share of the royalties, did not commit copyright infringement. 

‘Mr. Thicke and Williams, and their legal team, among others, went on a public relations campaign after the jury’s verdict criticizing the verdict and saying the evidence did not support the finding of copyright infringement, and did not believe the decision on liability would therefore stand,’ the Gaye family’s attorney, Richard Busch, wrote in a statement at the time. 

‘The judge who actually heard all of the evidence disagreed. I am thrilled for the Gaye family, and the thoughtful members of the jury, who had to listen to all of that while remaining silent.’

Williams contended during the trial that he was only trying to mimic the ‘feel’ of Gaye’s late 1970s music and insisted he did not use elements of his idol’s work.

Blurred Lines, which was the biggest song of 2013, remains Thicke’s biggest hit.

This is a difficult blow for Thicke, who lost his house last month in the California wildfires.  

 

 



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