By Sian Watson
LONDON (AP) --Musician Nile Rodgers has said it is "shocking" that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke have been found guilty of plagiarism in the "Blurred Lines" court case, adding that he believed the song's composition was not at all like Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give it Up."
Rodgers, of the band Chic, has worked alongside Williams in Daft Punk's smash hit "Get Lucky." He said Gaye's 1977 song and Thicke's 2013 hit "didn't really sound alike."
"Compositionally, purely compositionally, I don't think they should have lost that case," he told The Associated Press Wednesday in an interview. "'Got to Give it Up' is clearly a blues structure, ('Blurred Lines') isn't at all."
Williams and Thicke have been ordered to pay $7.4 million to the Gaye family. But the dispute continues with Gaye's children filing an injunction in court to prevent the copying, distributing and performing of the hit song.
Rodgers and Chic are releasing their first single in almost 25 years Friday with the album "It's about time" following in the summer.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More