Robin Thicke & Pharrell Williams lose Blurred Lines trial

Marvin Gaye's kids have been awarded $7.3 million (GBP4.9 million) after a jury in Los Angeles ruled Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied portions of the soul legend's Got to Give It Up for their hit Blurred Lines.

The federal panel declared Williams infringed on Gaye's 1977 hit when he wrote Blurred Lines for Thicke.

The trial lasted two weeks and featured testimony from both Williams and Thicke, who performed a medley of other people's classics in a bid to prove how similar some songs sound.

Gaye's kids contended they instantly recognized striking similarities between their father's number one hit and Blurred Lines, and a musicologist they called to the witness stand confirmed there was a "constellation" of eight similar elements which featured in both songs.

An attorney for the Gaye children claimed the two tracks' bass and keyboard lines and hook were identical.

During his testimony, Williams insisted he was not thinking about Gaye's music when he wrote Blurred Lines, but admitted the song may have had the "feel" of the soul great, because he has always been a big fan.

Thicke, Williams and rapper T.I. preemptively sued Gaye's family for a determination on whether their hit song was an infringement on the copyright for Got to Give it Up. Gaye's family countersued.

The soul legend's children, Nona, Frankie and Marvin Gaye III, were in court when the verdict was read on Tuesday (10Mar15) - Thicke's 38th birthday.