Pharrell Williams recently spoke about the ‘Blurred Lines’ ruling for the first time and says that the verdict ‘handicaps’ artists. Read more on the story below!
Pharrell Williams has spoken out for the first time about losing the “Blurred Lines” ruling. His statements came soon after Gaye’s family filed a court injunction to stop future performances and distribution of the hit song. In an interview with the Financial Times, Williams was not happy about the jury’s ruling earlier this month which said that the 2013 hit song by him, T.I and Robin Thicke had infringed on Marvin Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up.”
“The verdict handicaps any creator out there who is making something that might be inspired by something else,” he said about the ruling. Williams says, “This applies to fashion, music, design … anything. If we lose our freedom to be inspired we’re going to look up one day and the entertainment industry as we know it will be frozen in litigation. This is about protecting the intellectual rights of people who have ideas.” The jury ruled that Williams, T.I and Thicke had to pay $7.3 million to Gaye’s heirs for copyright infringement. Williams goes on to say, “There was no infringement…You can’t own feelings and you can’t own emotions…(in music) there are only the notations and the progression. Those were different.” He did not say whether he and Thicke were planning to appeal the verdict but he did note that the two were “working out our next steps right now.” Williams said that even with the ruling against him, he will continue to seek inspiration from other sources. He said, “Everything that’s around you in a room was inspired by something or someone.. If you kill that, there’s no creativity.”
