Robin Thicke, Pharrell, to appeal Blurred Lines verdict

Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams intend to appeal the ‘Blurred Lines’ court ruling.

The pair were sued by the family of the late singer Marvin Gaye on Tuesday (10.03.15) and ordered to pay $7.3 million (£4.8 million) in copyright infringement due to similarities to the Motown star’s track ‘Got To Give It Up’, but their lawyer, Howard King, has insisted they “owe it to songwriters” to fight the verdict.

He told Fox Business: “We owe it to songwriters around the world to make sure this verdict doesn’t stand.

“My clients know that they wrote the song ‘Blurred Lines’ from their hearts and souls and no other source.

“We are going to exercise every post trial remedy we have to make sure this verdict does not stand. We look at it as being in the seventh inning of a game that could go into extra innings.”

As well as claiming the sum of money from Robin and Pharrell, Marvin’s family are calling for sales of the track – which is one of the best-selling songs of all time – to be halted while they come to an agreement about how future profits should be split.

While the pair flatly refuse any wrong-doing, Robin spoke about their inspiration with DJ Trevor Nelson in 2013, admitting they went into the studio with the intention of making something similar to the 1977 hit.

Speaking on BBC Radio 1Xtra, he said: “I went into the studio and I told Pharrell, I’d love to do something like Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got To Give It Up’, and Marvin Gaye’s song is in the minor key, and so he started doing the drums and then we changed it to a major key, which makes it more like a country song. It was totally inspired [by the song].”