The question of copyright infringement in Pharell Williams’s and Robin Thicke’s song “Blurred Lines” has been raised again, following an appeal that the pair filed this Monday against the March decision that ruled against the use of Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” in the song’s instrumentals. Vulture presented a breakdown of the reasons why some people have been outraged by the decision, and why it can be argued that what some call an “homage” in fact constitutes illegal appropriation.
The “Blurred Lines” of Copyright
Liz Wood
Liz Wood is a writer and critic living in Cape Cod. She was a 2022 National Book Critics Circle Emerging Critics Fellow and a member of the NBCC 2023 and 2024 Greg Barrios Book in Translation Prize. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Words Without Borders, Electric Literature, and elsewhere.