It is official now that Robin Thicke had ripped off Marvin Gaye's 1977 hit "Got To Give It Up" for his song "Blurred Lines." A Los Angeles jury has ordered Thicke and Pharrell Williams to pay $7.4 million in compensation to Gaye's family.
"Blurred Lines," which was released as the lead single from Thicke's album by same name, came out in March 2013. The song was a huge hit worldwide, topping the charts in 20 countries. The song was declared as one of the best-selling numbers of all times with 14.8 million copies selling in U.S only.
However, the song soon became the subject of a bitter legal dispute between Thicke and Gaye's family. After eight days of trial testimony, it is concluded that Thicke and William's hit number was improperly drawn from Gaye's song, giving rise to copyright infringement.
The court has divided the compensation into $1.6 million payment from William and $1.7 million from Thicke to be given to the Gaye's family for loss of profits. Another $4 million is assessed as damages. According to the judgment, neither the record company nor rapper T.I owes anything to Gaye's family, CNN reported.
Gaye's estate is represented by the singer's children Frankie and Nona. The high profile legal drama began in August 2013 when Thicke, T.I. and William pre-emptively sued Gaye's estate as a response to their threats of legal action. Thicke's lawyer claimed in the lawsuit that "Blurred Lines" was "strikingly different" from "Got to Give It Up," Rolling Stone reported.
Two months later, the lawyers of Gaye estate counterclaimed that not only "Got to Give It Up," other songs, including "After the Dance" and "I Want You", have been ripped off to be included in Thicke's 2011 album Love After War. The formal trial started in February this year. At one point of time, William even denied Gayes's allegations completely and claimed that he wrote nearly every lyric and melody on "Blurred Lines" himself.