{"id":1653,"date":"2017-01-23T21:59:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T02:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=1653"},"modified":"2023-07-25T11:59:39","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:59:39","slug":"producers-pressured-to-disavow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2017\/01\/producers-pressured-to-disavow\/","title":{"rendered":"Producers Pressured to Disavow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3906788580_4cbd9dfdb9_o\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the post-\u201cBlurred Lines\u201d music industry, where an artist even casually admitting that their work was influenced by another may expose them to potential copyright infringement lawsuits, music labels are taking no chances when commissioning official remixes. In what appears to be a direct response to the surprising verdict in which a jury awarded $5.3 million to Marvin\u2019s Gaye\u2019s estate after finding that Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I.\u2019s smash hit song \u201cBlurred Lines\u201d infringed Gaye\u2019s classic \u201cGot to Give It Up,\u201d according to Pitchfork<\/a>\u00a0at least one major label has incorporated \u201cinspired by\u201d provisions to its \u201cstandard legal disclaimers\u201d for song remixes. Such clauses require music producers to agree that none of their remixes of songs contain \u201cmaterial which is \u2018inspired by another person\u2019s work.\u2019\u201d This new addition seems inspired by fears that the \u201cBlurred Lines\u201d case made it easier for musicians to succeed on lawsuits alleging a song infringes on their copyright by sharing a similar \u201cvibe\u201d or \u201cfeel\u201d to the original work, even if they do not share a melody. Such fear is not unwarranted\u2014for instance, in early 2017 Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani were sued by Richard Morrill who alleged that the pair\u2019s 2014 single \u201cSpark the Fire\u201d infringes on his 1996 song \u201cWho\u2019s Got My Lightah,\u201d primarily due to similar lyrics in the chorus and the shared pronunciation of the word \u201cfire\u201d as \u201cfi-ya,\u201d per The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the 9th<\/sup> Circuit has agreed to hear the appeal of the \u201cBlurred Lines\u201d case, it is evident that fallout from the jury verdict will likely continue to have a profound impact on the music industry.<\/p>\n

Tyler Bittner is an Entertainment Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current first year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2019).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the post-\u201cBlurred Lines\u201d music industry, where an artist even casually admitting that their work was influenced by another may expose them to potential copyright infringement lawsuits, music labels are taking no chances when commissioning official remixes. In what appears to be a direct response to the surprising verdict in which a jury awarded $5.3 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