Reading Between The 'Blurred Lines': Copyright Takeaways

July 17, 2015

In 1976, Marvin Gaye recorded the song "Got to Give It Up." In 1977, the song was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. When the registration was filed, Gaye and his publisher, Jobete Music, submitted to the Copyright Office a "lead sheet" as their copyright deposit. A lead sheet consists of sheet music typically containing only some of the lyrics and some of the melodic, harmonic and/or rhythmic features that appear in the sound recording of a musical composition. Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke and Clifford Harris are the composers of "Blurred Lines," which was released in 2013.

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Anna Shlafman

Mark D. Passin

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