Pharrell demands ‘fair trial’ in Blurred Lines dispute with Gaye family

Musicians Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke have requested a US court rehear the "Blurred Lines" copyright case that demanded they pay $7.3 million in damages to Marvin Gaye’s family.

In documents filed last Friday (May 1) at the US District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, both Williams and Thicke claimed there were “evidentiary and legal errors in the jury instructions” which ultimately denied them “ a fair trial”.

“The grounds for this motion are that the jury’s verdict finding that Williams and Thicke infringed "Got To Give It Up" and the damages and profits awarded by the jury are unsupported by any evidence, let alone substantial evidence, and are contrary to law,” they added.

They have requested a new trial be heard on June 29, 2015.

On March 10, the same court awarded the Marvin Gaye estate $7.3 million in damages after it found that Williams and Thicke had infringed Gaye’s 1977 song with their 2013 hit "Blurred Lines".

Clifford Harris, whose stage name is T.I., also contributed to the song, but was not liable for damages because his rap segment was added later. Record labels Universal Music and Interscope Records were also cleared of infringement.

Gaye owned the copyright to the song "Got To Give It Up", but after his death the rights to the song were passed to his surviving family, who filed the lawsuit in the year of Blurred Lines’ release.

A week after the judgment, the Gaye family sought an injunction against any further sales of the songs. They argued that they would suffer “irreparable harm” if such an injunction was not issued.

“Money damages awarded by the jury are not sufficient to protect the Gayes’ intellectual property rights because the award is limited to past uses,” the family added.

It has emerged that the song "Blurred Lines" made in excess of $16 million in record sales since the lawsuit was first filed.