Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Gayes push to make Universal and TI co-infringers in Blurred Lines case

By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 19 March 2015

If you enjoyed Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke being officially declared shyster song-stealers who should pay the family of a dead music star millions of dollars to atone for their filthy pop-thieving and naughty note-nicking, then strap yourself in for some fun times. Now the family of Marvin Gaye want Universal Music to be slapped in the face over ‘Blurred Lines’. And why not? It has a very slappable face.

So yes, showing little knowledge of the maxim “quit while you’re ahead” (or, for that matter, “got to give it up”), lawyers for the Gaye family have now filed some new motions following their court win last week, when a jury ruled that Williams lifted elements of Gaye song ‘Got To Give It Up’ when he wrote ‘Blurred Lines’.

During the trial it was decided that only Williams and Thicke should be held liable for copyright infringement, as the main two songwriters credited with writing ‘Blurred Lines’. But now the Gayes want Universal and its affiliates – as the labels that released the Thicke hit – to be held liable too.

Oh, and TI as well. He was let off the hook on the basis that he just showed up and did a little rap, long after Williams had completed his song thieving, but the Gayes want him to feel some of the heat too.

The Gayes’ legal man Richard Busch says that if Williams and Thicke infringed Marvin Gaye’s copyrights when they wrote ‘Blurred Lines’, then Universal et al were clearly liable for infringement too by releasing it. They are co-infringers “by virtue of their participation in the creation, manufacture and distribution” of the record, he said this week.

Adding the labels as co-infringers is important to the Gaye family for two reasons. First, it might open up a second round of damages to keep the $7.3 million+ they are already set to receive company, but it will also strengthen the Gaye family’s case to have the distribution of ‘Blurred Lines’ stopped by injunction.

Though that too is a financial move. The Gaye family don’t actually want to stop ‘Lines’ from being downloaded and streamed (however much we might wish that they would), rather they want Universal to agree a revenue share deal on all future exploitation of the record. The injunction would strengthen their hand in negotiating that deal.

So that’s all fun. Lawyers for Thicke and Williams, of course, intend to appeal last week’s ruling. Meanwhile, the Gaye family have written us all an open letter! And here it is.