Pharrell Williams spoke out for the first time since the multi-million dollar “Blurred Lines” judgment awarded to Marvin Gaye’s family last week. In an interview with the Financial Times, the 41-year-old described the jury decision as crippling to how any artist is allowed to create.

“The verdict handicaps any creator out there who is making something that might be inspired by something else,” said Williams. “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.”

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Williams and Robin Thicke lost the battle against claims that they infringed on the copyright of Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” The trial, however, only focused on the composition of both songs versus the actual recording. 

The 10-time Grammy winner is adamant that he did not steal from the late soul legend. “There was no infringement,” he asserted. “You can’t own feelings and you can’t own emotions… [in music] there are only the notations and the progression. Those were different.”

Williams declined to comment on a possible appeal, but did say that he and Thicke are “working on the next steps.” 

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(Photo: David Buchan/Getty Images)