A jury determined Tuesday that singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied Marvin Gaye’s music to create “Blurred Lines,” the top song of 2013, The Associated Press reported.
The jury awarded Gaye’s children nearly $7.4 million, the AP said.
Gaye’s daughter, Nona Gaye, wept as the verdict was read, the wire service said.
“Right now, I feel free,” Nona Gaye said. “Free from … Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”
The decision could have a chilling effect on musicians who want to copy an artist’s style, an attorney for Thicke and Williams said.
They lawsuit said that the two singers emulated the sound of Gaye’s late-1970s music and copied the hit “Got to Give It Up.”
Thicke told jurors he didn’t write “Blurred Lines,” which Williams testified he crafted in about an hour in mid-2012.
Williams told jurors that Gaye’s music was part of the soundtrack of his youth, the AP reported. But he said he didn’t use any of it to create “Blurred Lines.”
The verdict may face years of appeals, AP said.