Pharrell and Robin Thicke released “Blurred Lines” in 2013, yet the song has been constantly in the news cycle due to its high-profile lawsuit brought by Marvin Gaye’s estate. Pharrell and Thicke were ordered to pay $7.4 million in damages for copyright infringement of Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up.” When they requested a retrial, it got denied and named the featured guest rapper T.I., as well as the labels involved UMG Recordings, Interscope and Star Trak Entertainment liable for their actions. The plus side of this was the amount of damages trimmed to $5.3 million.
All of this comes full circle when videos of Pharrell’s 2014 deposition with Gaye’s estate lawyers were obtained by The Hollywood Reporter and uploaded online. Although Pharrell and Thicke are still planning to appeal the ruling in the original case, these videos show how intense it has gotten for the both of them. In the following clips, Pharrell is contentious, giving short answers and telling the lawyer that he’s uncomfortable with his line of questioning. “I’m not here to teach you music” was really something he said, referring to the questioner's prodding about reading music and defining chord structure. Watch them here, here and here.
