A judge has dismissed a lawsuit which claimed U2 had stole elements of a song for their single 'The Fly'.
'The Fly' hitmakers U2
Paul Rose claimed that U2 copied the 13-second guitar riff in his 1989 instrumental track 'Nae Slappin' and used it to create a 12-second part of a guitar solo in 'The Fly'.
And now US District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan has dismissed the case, saying that it was not enough of a "sufficiently substantial" portion of the track, which is three and a half minutes in length, to be a protectable "fragment" of the work.
Rose had been asking for at least $5 million in damages from Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. as well as UMG Recordings Inc, who releases U2's records under their label, Island Records.
In the papers filed, Rose claimed U2 had copied the track "virtually note-for-note", having got hold of it through Island Records after he sent the demo for 'Nae Slappin' to them previously.
It comes after guitarist The Edge recently shared how he thinks the most "unique" aspect of 'Songs of Experience' - their 67th studio album - and the band in general, is that not many groups have made so much music with the original line-up intact.
He said: "I hope you don't need to know anything about U2, or anything about the context, to enjoy [Songs of Experience]. I think it's an album of just classic songs, great melodies, great hooks, great lyrics. I think there's very few bands in the history of rock and roll that have been around and made as many albums as we have with the same line-up ... that perspective is unique, you know? On the last record ['Songs of Innocence'] we wrote about where we came from.
"How this band came together, Dublin of the late 70s early 80s, and this new record is the companion album. But it's from this current perspective now ... So many years later, what have we learned?"