Yup, new developments in the case of Robin Thicke v. The Ghost of Marvin Gaye. I know, I know! Y'all are probably at your wit's end with all of the"Blurred Lines" madness, 'specially as we live in the perpetual waviness of licensing and sampling in the aftermath of what may have been the highest profile case of its type ever. But the battle for the lines isn't quite over yet. In fact, it may have just gotten some new life. In March, a judge ruled that Pharrell & Robin Thicke's hit borrowed substantially from the feel of Marvin Gaye's disco-inflected classic "Got To Give It Up" and mandated the hitmakers pay $7.4 million in damages to Gaye's estate, which sent ripples through the entire industry, even compelling some artists like Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars to retroactively add writing credits to their chart-smashing single "Uptown Funk" just last week. And while many have dreaded the implications of the ruling (even the ever-joyful Stevie Wonder had some words on the verdict) there seems to be no end in sight to how the blurry the lines get, now being challenged by the lawyers of Williams & Thicke.
According to Billboard, attorneys on both ends are looking to continue the courtside bout, with the Williams/Thicke team claiming the instructions provided to the jury were confusing and misleading, challenging both the musicologist's testimony and the evidence provided in the case (a mash-up of the two songs, Thicke's in-court performance and the sheet music to marvelous Marvin's hit.) If unable to receive a new trial, team Thicke's attorneys will seek to have the damages slashed down to $680,000, while Gaye's estate will attempt to cease distribution of the song altogether. I suppose wherever you stand on the matter, the implications of the case are dire enough to the sampling and licensing limits that everyone in hip-hop has got to be rooting for P & Thicke on some level--even if it means the Gaye estate gets the short end of the stick for questioning how much influence can be displayed in a song. Check back in the weeks and months to come, as we continue to keep our ears to the ground for the latest on the blurring.
