Pharrell Williams on Blurred Lines copyright verdict: There's no creativity if you kill inspiration

Pharrell Williams has spoken out in the wake of losing the Blurred Lines copyright infringement lawsuit, claiming that the verdict could kill creativity for artists.

Earlier in March, a federal court awarded Marvin Gaye's estate and his three children nearly $7.4m (£4.9m) in damages after ruling that the producer and Robin Thicke had plagiarised the late soul singer's chart-topper Got To Give It Up.

The ruling came after months of litigation in which Gaye's heirs claimed that part of his 1977 hit were lifted by Williams and Thicke. In 2014 Thicke testified that he was not present when the song was written, even though he received credit.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Williams claimed that the entertainment industry is now "frozen in litigation" with those in fashion, art and design also feeling the effect.

"The verdict handicaps any creator out there who is making something that might be inspired by something else," Williams told the FT in his first interview since the verdict.

"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 Virginia native, who is also the man behind Oscar-nominated 2013 smash Happy, also maintained that no plagiarism had taken place.

"You can't own feelings and you can't own emotions," he said. "Everything that's around you in a room was inspired by something or someone ... If you kill that, there's no creativity."