APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS ‘BLURRED LINES’ COPYRIGHT VERDICT

Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams will still have to pay $5.3 million in damages after a federal appeals court upheld a jury’s decision that their song “Blurred Lines” – that also features rapper T.I. – infringes on the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” The decision was made Wednesday by a divided panel at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that discussed the case’s ramifications and how the win for Gaye’s family might stifle musical creativity. Thicke and Williams’ lawyers argued that the lawsuit went too far in protecting the generic elements of a song’s style shared between the two tracks. The appeals court ruling also cleared T.I., real name Clifford Harris Jr., and Interscope Records, of liability. The Gaye family was originally also awarded 50% of publishing revenue for “Blurred Lines” and will be able to get a running royalty rate of 50%.


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