let s talk about this from a legal standpoint. we re joined by cnn legal analyst paul call las. paul s been a criminal defense attorney, also taught media law here which this is. this is a serious, important decision here when it gets to copyright. explain to me what the jury had to decide to say this song was essentially ripped off. copyright law is very complicated. the idea basically is it s simple. if you copy somebody else s work, that s copyright violation. but that s not what this is about. this is about copying an element of a work. and trying to decide whether that copying occurred. now, the law, of course, allows people to copy styles, general styles. that s how rock and roll developed and emerged and
awful music just stop it. the song blurred lines, they found it did cross some lines saying it was way to similar to a marvin gaye song. this is an important decision that could shake up the music business. [ hoof beats ] i wish. please, please, please, please, please. [ male announcer ] the wish we wish above all.is health. so we quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. expanded minuteclinic, for walk-in medical care. and created programs that encourage people to take their medications regularly. introducing cvs health. a new purpose. a new promise. to help all those wishes come true. cvs health. because health is everything. that would be my daughter hi dad. she s a dietitian. and back when i wasn t eating right,
the lines aren t blurry anymore. the lines have been drawn, i guess we could say. pharrell williams and robin thicke have to pay a lot of million to the estate of marvin gaye. you know you remember this song. being bad is not illegal. what is problematic is what the gaye family said and the jury agreed, that the song was too familiar to marvin gaye s 1977 hit. listen for yourself.
maybe he agreed with his brother but he certainly was not brainwashed and therefore should get the death penalty. he himself was acting on his own power doing whatever he was going to do. paul callan, thank you so much. stick around with us, paul. we have a very different topic to discuss but also just as interesting. we want to talk about blurred lines. one jury says the megahit copied a marvin gay song but could it have just influenced the song? we ll take a look at how this decision may also rock the music world. we ll make you listen to it again and again. why not? you re driving along,
won t you stay with me reporter: smith and petty reached an amicable settlement. petty calling the whole thing a musical accident. petty went on to say these things can happen. that most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but thicke and pharrell say that is not the case with blurred lines that this song is their own. linsey davis, abc news, new york. yeah. how much when you have a little creative license and how much is plain ripping off something? something gets in your head. maybe it is an accident. it is possible you were inspired by something but those songs are so similar. what do you do? he said in those interviews he was saying he was inspired by the song. he said he was drunk and high in those interviews so don t take him at his word. he may have been drunk and high, he s had some issues but doesn t mean he wasn t telling the truth. we re going to show you this