Robin Thicke and Pharrell to appeal Blurred Lines ruling

Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams will appeal the courts ruling for them to pay $7.3m (£4.8m) to Marvin Gaye’s family.

The pair were ordered to pay $7.3m (£4.8m) to the estate of Marvin Gaye in a copyright infringement case against their track Blurred Lines track on Tuesday.

The musical pairs lawyer, Howard King, has told Fox Business that he intends to appeal the order.

“We owe it to songwriters around the world to make sure this verdict doesn’t stand,” he explained.

“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.”

There are now questions being raised about supposed similarities between Pharrell’s ‘Happy’ and Gaye’s 1965 track ‘Aint That Peculiar’, which King also disputes.

“Pharrell has readily admitted that Marvin Gaye is one of his idols, but it’s silk and rayon,” he continued.

“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.”

Gaye’s family is now seeking to halt further sales of Blurred Lines until an agreement on “how future monies that are received will be shared” is reached.