06/06/2008

Royalties Case Dismissed For Former Busted Members

Two former members of boyband Busted have lost their High Court battle for song royalties.

Ki McPhail and Owen Doyle claimed that they were forced to sign away their rights to songs like Year 3000 and What I Go To School For and Sleeping With The Light On which they said they had written with James Bourne and Matt Willis.

The singers said that they suffered "undue pressure" and "threats" from their management when they were sacked.

Mr Justice Morgan has dismissed their claims and criticised the evidence that was presented in court.

Justice Morgan said of Doyle that he "was not a reliable witness" and that he "manifested a high degree of confusion and a failure to grasp the detail in relations to many of the significant events".

Of McPhail he said that "he had convinced himself that his reconstructed version of events really happened".

The other band members Bourne and Willis said the attempt to win royalties was "an opportunistic attempt by Doyle and McPhail to cash in" on their success and that they were "delighted" the case had been dismissed.

It is understood that Simon Cowell was a witness in the case.

Busted, which formed in 2001, sold over one million singles and two million albums in the UK.

They won BRIT awards, Record Of The Year and performed on several sell-out arena tours.

(DS)


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