Did Pharrell Williams Plagiarize Happy Video?
Did Pharrell Williams Happy music video plagiarize Anne Marsen‘s dancing video as seen on Vimeo in 2011?
In this video, the dancer shows how Happy was almost a shot-by-shot reproduction of Marsen’s 2011 video titled “Girl Walk // All Day.” Her video showing the theft is titled “Pharrell Likes My Work.” But it’s so close, it seems like she has a decent case for copyright infringement. Or at least warrants a public apology or acknowledgement by Pharrell and Yoann Lemoine, the creative director of Happy’s music video.
Pharrell Loves My Work from Anne Marsen on Vimeo.
Fair use is an interesting topic and the gap between the way different groups interpret the legal definition is amazing. BTW, I attended a session on fair use at the recent Computer Using Educators conference in Palm Springs and the presenter of that session showed the following video called “Fair Use and Cultural Development” from the kenrg channel:
http://youtu.be/8IhcuKfm-Cg
Well… it’s not an easy call. It looks like both of them could be taking the shots from a much older source and reinterpreting them their own way.
Either way the creative director did not do his homework thoroughly.