Courts have decided that the Robin Thicke and Pharrell collaboration “Blurred Lines” has borrowed so heavily from Marvin Gaye’s hit song “Got to Give it Up,” that Thicke and Pharrell must pay the Gaye family a settlement for copyright infringement that totals around 7.4 million dollars.

People rejoiced as the song that was accused of being about date rape (http://huff.to/1Bj8dhK) was taken down a peg. It is even more remarkable when you consider the fact that Gaye, who passed away in 1984, and his family beat two of the most popular artists of the 2013/2014 period.

For musicians everywhere, this is mixed news as it helps to cement the protection they have when it comes to their own songs, while also mixing what is infringment and what is inspiration.

Music only has so many notes to arrange and it is not uncommon for notes to be arranged in a similar manner. Some songs even use the beats of others to new lyrics via sampeling or other methods.

Just look at the accusation Led Zeppelin is facing from the band Spirit, which claims that the iconic song “Stairway to Heaven,” a song that is considered by many to be the greatest rock song, uses the opening of their song “Taurus” (http://n.pr/1tcF3Sj).

While the openings seem similar, the rest of the two songs differ greatly, but a judges ruling may list Spirit as songwriters and contributors of the song, despite the fact that both of these songs are years old.