For the first time since a jury ruled against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke in the now infamous "Blurred Lines" lawsuit brought by Marvin Gaye's family, the mega-producer himself is speaking out. In a new statement, Pharrell is deriding the verdict against himself and Thicke, saying it handicaps creators of all types.
In speaking to The Financial Times, Pharrell stated that ruling in favor of Gaye's family sets a dangerous precedent not only for musicians, but for filmmarkers, designers and other artists.
"The verdict handicaps any creator out there who is making something that might be inspired by something else," he said. "This applies to fashion, music, design... anything. If we lose our freedom to be inspired we're going to look up one day and the entertainment industry as we know it will be frozen in litigation. This is about protecting the intellectual rights of people who have ideas."
Pharrell is insistent about the importance of influencers in the world of music, saying, "Everything that's around you in a room was inspired by something or someone. If you kill that, there's no creativity."
Despite losing to the tune of $7.4 million earlier this month and new injunctions that are seeking to block sales of the 2013 smash hit "Blurred Lines" and hold T.I. responsible, Pharrell and Thicke maintain that the song was all their own (albeit inspired by the work of Gaye).
"Pharrell has readily admitted that Marvin Gaye is one of his idols, but it's silk and rayon," Thicke and Pharrell's lawyer Howard King said. "If this is the way the law is going to go, then the creator of rayon better look behind him for lawsuits from the owners of silk, because, even though they feel the same they are structurally, completely different just like these songs."
