A jury has ruled in favor of Marvin Gaye’s family in the copyright trial over Robin Thicke’s 2013 smash hit “Blurred Lines.” Thicke, along with producer Pharrell Williams, have been ordered to pay $7.5 million.
The high-profile trial finished testimony on Thursday, after Williams took the stand. Thicke also testified, admitting that he really did not write “Blurred Lines.” The singer was also requested to perform a piano medley, along with phrases from “Blurred Lines” and “Got To Give It Up,” the Gaye song the late R&B legend’s children claimed Thicke and Williams infringed.
Following two days of deliberation, the jury ruled that Thicke and Williams will have to pay $4 million in damages, plus profits that can be attributed to “Blurred Lines.” That was determined to be $1.8 million for Thicke and $1.6 million for Williams.
That’s much less than what the attorney for Gaye’s children, Frankie and Nona Gaye, was asking for. At first, they estimated damages to be up to $40 million, but that was later adjusted to $25 million.
The eight jurors also gave rapper T.I., who contributed to the track, a free pass, TheWrap points out.
The legal battle began in 2013, shortly after the song became the biggest hit of Thicke’s career. Thicke actually preemptively sued Gaye’s family, assuming that they would sue him over the similarities between the song and “Got To Give It Up.” They did so and the lawsuit made it all the way to trial.
As a result, the case was closely watched by the music industry. Situations like these are usually settled out of court, but this one was not. The trial went into the detail of the song’s creation and revealed that Thicke, Williams and T.I. made a combined $16 million for “Blurred Lines.”
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