Pharrell Williams: We didn't py Marv Gaye song for "Blurred L" - CBS News

Contents:

• MARV GAYE FAY PREVAILS 'BLURRED L' PLAGIARISM SE
• WHY THE MARV GAYE ‘BLURRED L’ PAYOUT IS ABSURD AND WORRYG
• BLURRED L: MARV GAYE'S FAY KEEPS $5M PAYOUT
• HOW SIAR IS ‘BLURRED L’ TO A 1977 MARV GAYE H?
• PHARRELL WILLIAMS: WE DIDN'T PY MARV GAYE SONG FOR "BLURRED L"
• MARV GAYE'S FAY WS 'BLURRED L' APPEAL; PHARRELL, ROB THICKE MT PAY

MARV GAYE FAY PREVAILS 'BLURRED L' PLAGIARISM SE

3 ln judgment agast Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams for pyg a Marv Gaye song to create their 2013 smash “Blurred L. Circu Court of Appeals said Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up” served “broad” pyright protectn, and the March 2015 jury verdict favor of Gaye’s three children uld stand bee there was “not an absolute absence of evince” of siary between the two songs.

WHY THE MARV GAYE ‘BLURRED L’ PAYOUT IS ABSURD AND WORRYG

Circu Judge Milan Smh also upheld an award of 50 percent of future royalti om “Blurred L” to the Gay. And Interspe should be liable, but the appeals urt “Blurred L” se has transfixed the mic dtry, promptg bate over the le between plagiarism and honorg works by popular artists like Gaye, whose songs also clu “I Heard It Through the Grapeve” and “What’s Gog On.

Wednday’s cisn prompted a strong dissent om Circu Judge Jacquele Nguyen, who said the cisn let the Gay “acplish what no one has before: pyright a mil style, ” and expand the potential for further pyright ligatn. ”Williams, whose songs also clu “Happy, ” admted urt to beg a Gaye fan sce childhood but said “Blurred L” and “Got to Give Up” were siar genre has terviews acknowledged drawg on Gaye’s song but mataed sworn statements that he exaggerated his ntributn to “Blurred L. ” And don’t try to re-create — otherwise, like Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams, you’ll end up owg the Gaye tate somethg the regn of $7.

Tuday’s lg that the song “Blurred L” stole om Gaye’s 1977 smash “Got To Give It Up” sent shockwav across the mic dtry — and for good reason. A key factor the jury’s cisn was based on the fact that they were given only the basic elements of Gaye’s song om the sheet mic (which was protected by the tate) to pare to “Blurred L. Composer, arranger, and thor Richard Nil, PhD., talks about the signifince of the pyright claim agast Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams song “Blurred L” and victor lawsu om the Marv Gaye tate.

BLURRED L: MARV GAYE'S FAY KEEPS $5M PAYOUT

But when the Marv Gaye tate was victor s claim that the Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams song “Blurred L” had ged the pyright of Marv Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up, ” sent rippl through the mic dtry. Still, while ncedg that “Blurred L” did not py any of Gaye’s melodi or lyrics, the urt neverthels led that the siary of the “feel” of the rhythm sectn was sufficient grounds for a cisn of pyright gement. The tchy brass troductn to “Dancg the Street” was not wrten by the song’s creded songwrers, Marv Gaye, Mickey Stevenson, and Ivy Joe Hunter.

But no one has mentned that the rhythm arrangement on “Got to Give It Up” was not wrten by Marv Gaye alone, though he owned the rights to acrdg to pyright law as terpreted at the time.

Image source, InterspeImage ptn, Blurred L went to number one the UK while s X-rated vio provoked ntroversyRob Thicke and Pharrell Williams pied one of Marv Gaye's songs to create their 2013 smash Blurred L, an appeal urt has urt upheld a 2015 verdict agast the stars, which means Gaye's fay will get to keep a $5m (£3.

HOW SIAR IS ‘BLURRED L’ TO A 1977 MARV GAYE H?

Circu Judge Jacquele Nguyen add that the lg "strik a vastatg blow to future micians and posers everywhere" the origal 2015 trial, a jury found that Blurred L had pied Gaye's 1977 h Got To Give It Up - spe many observers claimg the songs were only siar feel, rather than, Williams and rapper TI, who ntributed a verse to the track, lnched an appeal 2016 and were backed by 212 fellow songwrers, among them John Oat, Jason Mraz and members of Lk argued the verdict "threaten[ed] to punish songwrers for creatg new mic that is spired by prr works. "Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, The h sgle ma more than $5m (£3m) for Williams (left) and ThickeBut the 9th US Circu Court of Appeals largely upheld the cisn, while clearg TI - real name Clifford Harris Jr - of any pyright judg rejected Williams and Thicke's requt to orr a new trial, sayg Gaye's pyright was entled to broad protectn.

Wednday's cisn prompted a strong dissent om Circu Judge Jacquele said the cisn let the Gay "acplish what no one has before: pyright a mil style" and expand the potential for further pyright ligatn. "The are two entirely different songs, " he of Gaye's children, Frankie and Nona, lled the cisn "a victory for the rights of all micians.

"Image source, RtersImage ptn, Frankie (left) and Nona Gaye said the urt proceedgs uld have been avoidMilogists have reacted wh disappotment to the lg, sayg might hr creativy the Bent, a profsor at Berklee College of Mic, wrote a note-by-note parison of the two songs 2014 and nclud they only shared a groove.

PHARRELL WILLIAMS: WE DIDN'T PY MARV GAYE SONG FOR "BLURRED L"

Will return to Los Angel feral urt on Tuday to fight claims they pied their multiplatum song om Gaye’s 1977 h “Got To Give It Up.

The sger’s children Frankie and Nona Gaye rpond wh unterclaims that the micians ged “Got To Give It Up” — and that Thicke and ex-wife Pla Patton pied a send Gaye song, “After The Dance, ” -wrg Thicke’s 2011 track “Love After War. ) as well as experts on mic licensg and revenue, who will speak to the damag the Gay uld claim if they w. In recent motns, Thicke and Williams’ attorneys threw the Gay a pyright curveball wh the argument they don’t own their father’s mercially released rerdgs — they only own the posnal elements the sheet mic “lead sheets.

” (The rerdgs belong to Motown Rerds, which is owned by Universal, which turn owns Interspe — the rerd pany that released Blurred L and a fendant the Gay’ untersu. His cisn enforced that the Marv Gaye rerdgs of “Got To Give It Up” and “After The Dance” uldn’t be heard urt — the attorneys are only g stripped-down stmentals. But more importantly, the cisn means that cidg whether gement occurred, the jury will only nsir whether “Blurred L” and “Love After War” borrow excsively om what’s the Gay’ lead sheets.

MARV GAYE'S FAY WS 'BLURRED L' APPEAL; PHARRELL, ROB THICKE MT PAY

The Gay’ attorneys argue that what’s left — the lyrics, the vol melody, the keyboard le and the bass — still remble Thicke’s songs enough to say they’re gement. On Thursday and Friday, the Gaye fay’s attorney Richard Bch lled a pair of milogists to the stand, and the urtroom beme a urse on mic theory wh their ttimoni on what they hear mon between the posns. “Signature phrase”: Judh Fell, the Berkeley-ted head of a milogy nsultg firm, labeled one phrase per song the immediately intifiable “signature phrase”: the openg lyrics “I ed to go out to parti” Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” and the chos opener “And that’s why I’m gon’ take a good girl” “Blurred L.

The Gay’ other mil expert, Harvard profsor of Ain-Amerin mic Ingrid Monson, argued that Gaye’s bass le and s pairg wh a reggae- or ragtime-fluenced keyboard melody were highly unual Motown mic.

That means ’s hard for Thicke and Williams to claim they were fluenced by the genre general, she said, stead of the Gaye songs specifilly. Le by le, the experts pared lyrics cludg Gaye’s “move up / Turn ’round / Shake down” and Thicke’s “Shake around / Get down / Get up. The rap verse “Blurred L” begs and ends at the same pot the song as the Gaye song’s “parlando” — a lyril chantg Fell scribed as “a precursor to rap.

” The jury looked amed while Bch and Fell pared lyrics om the parlando and the rap verse, cludg pairg Gaye’s “Let me step to/ to your erotic zone” wh a le of T. “Theme X”: Fell intified a short, recurrg melodic le she labeled “theme X, ” heard Gaye’s sung lyrics “dancg lady” unr the ma vol. Miller rpond that Thicke’s vols don’t match the Gaye sheet mic, but Fell said the discrepancy is bee Thicke’s theme X match a harmony not wrten but implied the lead sheet.

Marv Gaye’s Estate won a lawsu agast Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams for the h song “Blurred L, ” which had a siar feel to one of his songs. Dpe s populary, the siary of “Blurred L” to Marv Gaye’s 1977 h song “Got to Give It Up” sparked ntroversy.

However, Thicke also stated public terviews that he was fluenced by Marv Gaye and, specifilly, “Got to Give It Up” when he -posed “Blurred L” wh Williams. Williams claimed that, although Gaye’s mic had fluenced him his youth, he did not py Gaye’s song his posn.

In March 2015, the jury led favor of the Gaye tate, statg that while Williams and Thicke did not directly py “Got to Give It Up, ” there was enough of a siar “feel” to warrant pyright gement. Thicke and Williams did not see the mil fluence of Gaye as pyright gement, but rather as spiratn that spurred them to create a new, origal sgle.