Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke Versus Marvin Gayes Case Essay - 1

Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke Versus Marvin Gayes Case - Essay Example Marvin’s children said that the money they demanded was what they believed their father would have been given had he signed his song with the label. Robin and Williams argued that the family only had a right to the sheet music and not the sound. In fact, earlier they had sued Marvin’s estates in order to stop them from going ahead with their copyright infringement case. However, they both did not claim to have written this song together but independently. They held on to their innocence and said they were not through with the case yet. An additional $8000 is also to be added to the amount given to Marvin Gaye’s estate. This case has brought down Williams reputation as a songwriter as he was ordered to pay $1.6 million while Robin $1.7 million (Grow). Copyright infringement occurs when anybody breaches the restricted rights of another person’s material whether words, sound or pictures. This rule is seen as theft as the violator uses a copyrighted material without the owner’s authorization (Campbell, Cotter & Center for International Legal Studies, 2). Even though the two songs do not have the same sound, the words in the two songs are similar and this constitutes a breach. The two musicians have violated Marvin Gaye’s song even though they argue that the sheet music is what Gaye copyrighted.