LOS ANGELES, July 17: Singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams have lost their bid to get new trial in “Blurred Lines” case.
In May, their lawyers appealed the initial ruling after they were found guilty of copying parts of their 2013 hit from Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up”, but now a California judge has denied their bid for retrial, reported Ace Showbiz.
On the good side, Judge John A Kronstadt reduced the verdict from USD 7.4 million to USD 5.3 million, but to balance out the reduced payout, Gaye’s family will now receive half of the song’s future royalties.
The new ruling also stated that rapper T.I. Should be held liable to pay damages although the jury found that he did not commit copyright infringement.
Accordingly, the rapper’s profits from the original ruling have been cut from USD 1.6 million to USD 357,630.
Howard King, an attorney for Thicke and Williams, said he was still reviewing the ruling and had no immediate comment on the new ruling.
Previously, the pair’s legal team argued that there were errors in jury instructions, improper testimony from a musicologist and insufficient evidence in the original trial. They also added that the jury’s verdict was inconsistent since T.I. Was not found guilty in the case.
Meanwhile, the Gaye family’s attorney, Richard Busch, said in a statement, “Mr Thicke and Williams, and their legal team, among others, went on a public relations campaign after the jury’s verdict criticizing the verdict and saying the evidence did not support the finding of copyright infringement, and did not believe the decision on liability would therefore stand. The judge who actually heard all of the evidence disagreed.
“I am thrilled for the Gaye family, and the thoughtful members of the jury, who had to listen to all of that while remaining silent.” (PTI)
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