Pharrell Williams Speaks Out About Having To Pay $7.3 Million For Copyright Infringement

Pharrell Williams has spoken out for the first time about losing the "Blurred Lines" trial - and he is not happy at all.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the Grammy winner slammed a jury's ruling earlier this month that the 2013 hit song by him and Robin Thicke had infringed on a Marvin Gaye tune.

"The verdict handicaps any creator out there who is making something that might be inspired by something else," he said about the ruling.

"This applies to fashion, music, design ... anything. If we lose our freedom to be inspired we're going to look up one day and the entertainment industry as we know it will be frozen in litigation. This is about protecting the intellectual rights of people who have ideas."

The jury ruled that "Blurred Lines" copied elements of the late artist's 1977 song "Got to Give It Up," and required that Williams and Thicke pay $7.3 million to Gaye's heirs for copyright infringement.

But the "Happy" singer disagreed with the ruling.

"There was no infringement," he said. "You can't own feelings and you can't own emotions … (in music) there are only the notations and the progression. Those were different."

While Williams would not say whether he and Thicke planned to appeal the verdict, he noted that the two were "working out or next steps right now."

Williams said that even with the ruling going against him, he would continue seeking inspiration in creating his works of art.

"Everything that's around you in a room was inspired by something or someone," he said. "If you kill that, there's no creativity."

His remarks come just a day after Gaye's family filed a court injunction to stop future performances and distribution of the hit song.

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