Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams‘ attorneys ripped Marvin Gaye’s family as well as the $7.4 million judgement against their clients in the “Blurred Lines” trial, which deemed that Thicke and Williams’ No. 1 hit did infringe upon the copyright of Gaye’s song “Got to Give It Up.”
In a new court document obtained by TheWrap on Thursday, Thicke’s lawyer Howard King accused the Gaye family of “improper” and “unfair tactics” in what they characterize as an attempt to undermine the verdict.
“This case is far from over. It is merely entering a new phase,” King writes.
The legal response requests that the court strike two motions filed this week by the Gaye family: one seeking an injunction to stop any further distribution or sales of “Blurred Lines” and another asking that the verdict be changed to also hold collaborator T.I., Interscope, Star Trak Entertainment, UMG Distribution and Universal Music Recordings liable for the copyright infringement. Thicke’s attorney called both motions “groundless.”
“There is no urgency to any of the relief the Gayes have requested,” the document states. “On March 10, 2015, the verdict was read, no party objected to the verdict, and the jury was discharged.” The document objects to the Gaye family’s attempt to “entirely overturn the jury’s verdict” and also include T.I. and the Interscope parties who the jury found did not infringe.
Thicke’s attorney also alleges that the Gaye family’s attorneys have attempted to “circumvent the normal procedure for post-trial motions to the court.”
Paul Philips, lawyer for Marvin Gaye III, fired back at Thicke’s response in a statement to TheWrap: “The nature of Mr. King’s response comes as no surprise … In every sense of the phrase, the Thicke parties are backed into a corner legally and are fighting desperately to get out. As for our recent filings, they were made in strict conformity with the court’s mandates, and we’re confident in the ultimate positions we have taken.”
The document also goes on to argue that the Gaye family’s motion for an injunction jumps the gun, presuming that their other motion to amend the verdict will be granted.
Calling both the trial and verdict “fundamentally flawed” and referring specifically to the verdict as “an abject miscarriage of justice, unsupported by the evidence and contrary to law,” Thicke’s attorneys suggested the Gaye family is asking the Court to “pre-judge” and “resolve” all of the Thicke parties’ motions before they have been able to file their own motions with the court, citing the Gaye family attorneys’ “slapdash approach to post-trial issues.”
Thicke’s attorneys requested a status conference to be set for the week of Apr. 6, 2015, for all parties to discuss motions and procedural issues.