Pharrell Cleared in Marvin Gaye “Blurred Lines” Perjury Case

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that super-producer Pharrell’s six-year legal battle with Marvin Gaye’s estate has ended after a judge has decided that the Star Trak captain didn’t commit perjury when describing his creative process in making the record in an interview with legendary Def Jam producer Rick Rubin.

Both Pharrell and singer Robin Thicke were sued by Gaye’s estate. claiming that they had committed copyright infringement with their collaboration track “Got To Give It Up” and was ordered to give up a one-time payment of $5.3 million as well as half of the royalties from the song.

When Pharell claimed that he “reverse engineered” the track in the interview with Rubin, the Gaye estate tried to use his statement in a separate perjury case.

“The statements by Williams during the November 2019 interview were cryptic and amenable to multiple interpretations,” stated U.S. District Court Judge John Kronstadt in regards to Pharrell. “For example, it is unclear what Williams meant by ‘reverse-engineer[ing].’ Read in context, Williams statement about ‘reverse-engineering’ could be interpreted as a process in which he remembers his feelings when listening to particular music, and then attempts to recreate those feelings in his own works. This is not inconsistent with his deposition testimony, in which he claimed that he realized after creating ‘Blurred Lines’ that the feeling he tried to capture in the song, was one that he associated with Marvin Gaye. For these reasons, the Gaye Parties have not shown by clear and compelling evidence that there are sufficiently material inconsistencies between Williams’ statements in the November 2019 interview and his sworn testimony, to support a finding of perjury.”