Robin Thicke and Pharrell’s Lawyer Says They Shouldn’t Have to Pay Legal Fees for Marvin Gaye’s Family
A judge ordered last March that the Pharrell and Robin Thicke hit "Blurred Lines" did indeed plagiarize the 1977 Marvin Gaye song “Got to Give It Up," awarding Gaye's estate $7.3 million dollars; $5.3 million in damages plus 50 percent of the song’s future royalties. But now, Howard King, the attorney for Pharrell and Thicke, is attempting to keep those costs down, as the Gaye's attorney is attempting to charge the artists an additional $3.5 million in fees and expenses reimbursed.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, King wrote an opposition brief filed on Wednesday (Feb. 10) asking the fee and costs request to be denied or dramatically reduced.
“If ever there was a case where the close nature of the dispute, the novel legal issues, and the important matters at stake merited denial of fees, this is that case,” King wrote. “If fees are awarded here, it would send a message to anyone accuse[d] of infringement that, regardless of any legitimate basis to defend or serious questions as to the merits, a loss will necessarily result in an award of fees.”
There is a tangled web of details pertaining to this case, like who proposed legal fee coverage first, and the lengths gone to prove the substantial similarities between the two songs. It is all detailed in the THR report, but what looked like a bad day in court put to rest for Pharrell and Thicke has suddenly reared its head once again.
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