Jennifer Hudson, R. Kelly and 210 other musicians support 'Blurred Lines'

Exactly 212 musicians, from Jennifer Hudson to Fall Out Boy to Hans Zimmer, have come out in support of "Blurred Lines" in its copyright infringement case.

On Aug. 30, lawyer Ed McPherson submitted an amicus brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. An amicus brief is a legal document submitted to an appeals court by parties not involved in the case with an advisement. In this case, the advisement was in support of Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I., who are being sued because "Blurred Lines" sounds similar to Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up."

The notable list of musicians includes members of Earth, Wind & Fire, Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, Train, Tool, Weezer, Three 6 Mafia as well as names like Hudson, Zimmer, R. Kelly and John Oates. Since the artists behind "Blurred Lines" are arguing they shouldn't be sued for being inspired by other work, these musicians agreed wholeheartedly.

"Many important popular songs in the modern era would not exist today if they were subjected to the same scrutiny as “Blurred Lines” was in this case," McPherson said. "Allowing this judgment to stand, based upon such factors – with no similarities in melody, with virtually no similarities with the music notation on the actual deposit copy, and simply based on a “groove,” would clearly stifle future creativity, would undoubtedly diminish the legacies of past songwriters, and, without a doubt,would be antithetical to the principals of the Copyright Act."

The brief can be read in its entirety below.

Brief of Amici Curiae 212 Songwriters, Composers, Musicians, And Produce... by Eriq Gardner on Scribd

A separate amicus brief was also submitted on Aug. 30 in support of "Blurred Lines." This brief was signed by 10 musicologists who argue that, aside from "no harmonic similarity" between the two songs, the judge was influenced by poor evidence supplied from the musicologists hired by the Gaye estate.

"Nobody would find two literary works similar simply because an expert moved around words, paragraphs and punctuation or elminated portions of one or the other," lawyer Kenneth Freundlich said. "Neither should Courts be influenced by musicologists' reports if they likewise manipulate musical notation to create false notions of similarity."

That brief can be read in its entirety here. This one has pictures!

Now let's all just sit back and remind ourselves that this is the piece of art everyone's talking about.