Judge upholds previous jury verdict in “Blurred Lines” lawsuit

In March of this year, a California jury awarded $7.36 million in damages to Marvin Gaye’s family, finding that Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, and Clifford Harris, Jr.’s[1] hit song “Blurred Lines” infringed on the Marvin Gaye classic song “Got to Give It Up.” Recently, the Judge in this case made rulings on several post-trial motions.[2] Some of the most significant rulings are that a request for a new trial was denied and that the Judge reduced the jury verdict from $7.36 million to $5.3 million.[3] Also, the Judge found that T.I. was liable, reversing the jury verdict that he was not due to errors in the jury instructions.[4] Further, the Judge denied a request for an injunction to prevent the distribution of the “Blurred Lines” song, and instead required payment of an “ongoing royalty of 50% of songwriter and publishing revenues” to Marvin Gaye’s family.[5] Although the Judge has made a ruling in this case, this dispute may continue if either party decides to appeal.

Daniel Devine, Esq.
Santucci Priore, P.L.
Shareholder

[1] Professionally known as T.I.
[2] See, Pharrell Williams, et. al. v. Bridgeport Music, Inc., et. al., No. CV13-06004 JAK (AGRX), Docket Entry 423 (C.D. Cal. July 14, 2015).
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.

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