Pharrell Williams Testifies in ‘Blurred Lines’ Trial

Pharrell Williams took the stand for the first time Wednesday in the court case involving the song “Blurred Lines.”

According to the song credits, the hit tune was written by Williams, Robin Thicke and rapper Clifford Harris Jr. (T.I.). However, Marvin Gaye’s children, Frankie and Nona Gaye, filed claims that “Blurred Lines” infringed on their late father’s 1977 song “Got To Give It Up.”

Williams entered the courthouse in the Roybal Federal Building in Downtown Los Angeles around noon on Wednesday. At approximately 1:05 PM, he entered the courtroom, accompanied by his legal team and entourage.

Pharrell Williams is seen outside the Roybal Federal Building on March 4, 2015 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Getty)

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At the time he entered the courtroom, his sound engineer, Andrew Coleman, was giving his testimony. Coleman has worked for Williams for 20 years.

Thicke then entered the courtroom at around 1:10 PM.

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After Coleman finished giving his testimony, Gaye’s family’s attorney Richard Busch called Williams’ manager, Caron Veazey, to testify. During cross-examination, Veazy was asked about the producer’s declaration document for “Blurred Lines” that was signed by Veazy and Williams. The document, which was referred to as the “Producer’s Dec” in court, indicated there was no infringement or sample being used from another song in the music. The document was exhibited during testimony and it contained Veazy and Williams’ signatures.

When Veazey was questioned as to why the form indicated there wasn’t sampling or borrowing from another song in “Blurred Lines,” she testified, “We felt like there was no risk at all.”

At 2:08 PM, Williams took the stand. He too was cross examined by both lawyers – his attorney Howard King and Gaye’s family’s attorney Busch. They reviewed what Williams does for a living and why he took up music. He testified that he trained as a drummer in junior high school, but had no additional formal music education besides that. On the stand, Williams said he does not write musical notation and doesn’t feel like he can proficiently read musical notation.

Williams also testified that he conceived and wrote the song “Blurred Lines” in one day at Glenwood Place Studios on June 27, 2012. He said he began creating the song alone on his Apple Logic software and then, at a certain point, when he figured out the song’s groove and melody, he enlisted his sound engineer, Coleman, (who testified earlier in the day) to put the song together. Later in the evening of June 27, Thicke showed up to the studio to complete the song.

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Busch asked Williams if at any time he and Thicke had discussed wanting to emulate Gaye, to which Williams responded no. Williams also expressed a love and admiration for Gaye’s work.

“He’s one of the ones we look up to so much. This [court] is the last place I want to be,” Williams said. “The last thing [that I would want] as a creator is to take something that is someone else’s when you love them.”

When asked by the Gaye family’s counsel if he could have copied “Blurred Lines” from Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” consciously, Williams responded no. He was then asked if he could have copied it subconsciously.

“No sir. If I would have, we would have contacted our musicologist and dealt with it properly. It’s the fair and just thing to do,” Williams replied.

According to Williams, before he wrote “Blurred Lines” and recorded with Thicke, the two had spent several days together leading up to June 27, 2012. Williams said he was simultaneously producing a track for Miley Cyrus at the time.

Williams admitted to being familiar with Gaye’s song “Got To Give It Up” before he wrote “Blurred Lines.” Gaye’s attorney, Busch, played audio samples from “Got To Give It Up” and compared it to audio samples from “Blurred Lines” in court while Williams was on the stand. When he was then asked about the comparison, Williams emphasized that the notes he heard from the two songs were different. The audio samples presented to Williams were prepared by a musicologist hired by Gaye’s side. These samples contained another musician playing the baseline and keyboard of the songs, but were not samples of the commercial cuts of the hits.

Busch questioned Williams about an interview he gave to XXL magazine. On the stand, Williams again testified that he did not go into the studio on the day of June 27, 2012 with the intention to create something like “Got To Give It Up.”

At the end of the court session, Busch asked Williams, “Do you agree that ‘Blurred Lines’ has the feel of ‘Got To Give It Up?'”

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Williams said, “Feel, not infringement.”

Sheet music for “Blurred Lines” and “Got To Give It Up” was also shown in court on Wednesday.

At the beginning of the day, musicologist Sandra Wilbur – who also testified on Tuesday – returned to court. After she was cross examined, Universal marketing executive Nicole Bilzerian took the stand. She said it cost roughly $3.5 million to market “Blurred Lines.” King, Williams’ attorney, then called intellectual property valuation expert Doug Bania to the stand.

Gaye’s financial expert Gary Cohen testified on Tuesday that “Blurred Lines” earned more than $16 million, a figure agreed upon by both sides. Williams and Thicke each made over $5 million apiece. Harris Jr. – who is expected to testify at some point during the trial this week – made more than $700,000 from the song.

Court began Wednesday at 8:30 AM and ended at about 3:30 PM. Court resumed Thursday at 11:30 AM when testimony from Thicke’s manager Chris Knight was expected. U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt presided over the case.

Closing arguments are expected to happen on Thursday or Friday of this week and then the jury will begin deliberation.

Williams’ wife, Helen Lasichanh, was present in court on Wednesday, as were members of Gaye’s family.

— Paige Feigenbaum