A federal jury has just ruled that the 2013 hit song "Blurred Lines" infringed on "Got to Give It Up," a popular Marvin Gaye song. They awarded nearly $7.4 million to Gaye's children.
I have absolutely no opinion on whether this is Justice or a travesty thereof. I've never compared the two tunes. In fact, if I've even heard "Blurred Lines," it didn't register with me. What interests me about this is the vast number of messages posted on various Internet forums — thousands, I would venture to say, that read roughly like as follows…
I am a professional sound engineer and I've been involved in dozens of these matters and even testified as an expert. Believe me, there is no f'ing way any jury will ever find for the Gaye family on this. They are going to lose and they're going to lose big. This suit is the biggest guaranteed loser I've ever heard of in my life and the attorneys who told them they could win it are guilty of the worst kind of legal malpractice and should lose their licenses.
Every lawsuit I have followed in the last dozen or more years has had plenty of these postings, usually written by folks hiding behind handles so you don't know if they really have the credentials and experience they claim to have.
I have no problem with people making wrong predictions. Followers of this blog have seen me do it, though I've never been that sure of any of mine. I especially wouldn't be that certain about saying how a jury was going to rule. Remember that one of the two O.J. Simpson juries got it wrong. (And this one, the one that just ruled on the songs, may have too. One presumes there will be appeals…or a settlement for a lot less than $7.4 million if the Gayes think it could get reversed.)
It's just the certainty that bothers me a little. And the fact that if there is intelligent discussion to be held about the matter, it usually gets trampled by this kind of insistence.