Just yesterday entertainment attorney Wallace Collins predicted that the “Blurred Lines” ruling would be appealed.
Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams have been ordered to pay $7.3 million to Marvin Gaye’s family. But Thicke and Williams aren’t ready to give up on everyone’s favorite predatory hit song.
Their lawyer Howard King told Fox Business News:
“We owe it to songwriters around the world to make sure this verdict doesn’t stand. My clients know that they wrote the song ‘Blurred Lines’ from their hearts and souls and no other source… We are going to exercise every post trial remedy we have to make sure this verdict does not stand. We look at it as being in the seventh inning of a game that could go into extra innings.”
King also said:
“Pharrell has readily admitted that Marvin Gaye is one of his idols, but it’s silk and rayon.
If this is the way the law is going to go, then the creator of rayon better look behind him for lawsuits from the owners of silk, because, even though they feel the same they are structurally, completely different just like these songs.”
Nina Ulloa covers breaking news, tech, and more: @nine_u
I posted this on another thread, thought I would post again so others could get a sense of how copyright infringement cases are really decided…not so much law or what the jury thinks of the SONGS but how they feel about the plaintiff and defendant often control the outcome
http://www.mosesavalon.com/living-in-the-thicke-of-the-gaye-verdict/
“if someone does a cover of a bob dylan song (Like A Rolling Stone) to sound like nine inch nails (Head Like A Hole), they’re busted on the dylan part, not the nine inch nails part…
This case is more about perception than actual infringement. It’s important to be clear about the actual composition. If this ruling holds it significantly expands the definition of infringement from actual composition to production styles, which is dangerous. Just how “production” becomes “composition” in a composition infringement lawsuit is a bit confusing…”
“We look at it as being in the seventh inning of a game that could go into extra innings”
…should go into extra innings.
Reality check for those that don’t understand how copyright litigation plays out
http://www.mosesavalon.com/living-in-the-thicke-of-the-gaye-verdict/
I hate how people are acting so surprised at this. Plagarism is really common in the music industry. Chances are, some of your favorite songs were stolen. This site has a good list of the more recent ones.
http://www.nobofeed.com/stories/when-plagiarism-goes-pop/
Great article includes transcriptions demonstrating how misguided this decision is:
http://joebennett.net/2014/02/01/did-robin-thicke-steal-a-song-from-marvin-gaye/
Yeah the tracks may sound similar, but the compositions are different…
Leads to the conclusion that howard king failed miserably in showing the jury the simple truth that the gaye musicologists were 100% full of crap…