LOS ANGELES — A jury awarded Marvin Gaye’s children nearly $7.4 million Tuesday after determining singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied their father’s music to create “Blurred Lines,” the biggest hit song of 2013.
Gaye’s daughter Nona Gaye wept as the verdict was read and was hugged by her attorney.
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“Right now, I feel free,” she said outside court. “Free from … Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”
The verdict could tarnish the legacy of Williams, a reliable hit-maker who has won Grammy Awards and appears on NBC’s music competition show “The Voice.”
He and Thicke are “undoubtedly disappointed,” said their lead attorney, Howard King.
“They’re unwavering in their absolute conviction that they wrote this song independently,” he said.
Thicke and Williams earned more than $7 million apiece on the song, according to testimony.
King has said a decision in favor of Gaye’s heirs could have a chilling effect on musicians who try to emulate an era or another artist’s sound.
Larry Iser, an intellectual property attorney, was critical of the outcome.
“Although Gaye was the Prince of Soul, he didn’t own a copyright to the genre, and Thicke and Williams’ homage to the feel of Marvin Gaye is not infringing,” he said.
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