Pharrell Williams' six-year legal battle with Marvin Gaye's estate over "Blurred Lines" has come to a close. Last week, a judge ruled that the producer didn't commit perjury when describing how he crafted the hit record during an interview with Rick Rubin.
Marvin Gaye's estate successfully sued Pharrell and Robin Thicke after claiming their T.I.-assisted track stole Marvin Gaye's 1977 hit "Got to Give It Up." Williams and Thicke were found liable for copyright infringement and were forced to give Marvin Gaye's estate half of the song's royalties and a one-off payment of $5.3 million in damages.
After an appeal was denied in 2018, Pharrell spoke with Rick Rubin for GQ a year later and claimed he "reversed-engineered" Gaye's song when describing the making of "Blurred Lines." Gaye's family used the statement to file another case against the producer, claiming he committed perjury in the earlier case.
"The statements by Williams during the November 2019 Interview were cryptic and amenable to multiple interpretations," stated U.S. District Court Judge John Kronstadt while absolving Pharrell. "For example, it is unclear what Williams meant by 'reverse-engineer[ing].' Read in context, Williams statement about 'reverse-engineering' could be interpreted as a process in which he remembers his feelings when listening to particular music, and then attempts to recreate those feelings in his own works. This is not inconsistent with his deposition testimony, in which he claimed that he realized after creating 'Blurred Lines' that the feeling he tried to capture in the song, was one that he associated with Marvin Gaye. For these reasons, the Gaye Parties have not shown by clear and compelling evidence that there are sufficiently material inconsistencies between Williams' statements in the November 2019 interview and his sworn testimony, to support a finding of perjury."
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
