Elton John has fired back against the songwriter who claims that the Rocket Man stole the lyrics to his 1985 song "Nikita."
News of the accusations came via TMZ, which reported last week that a songwriter named Guy Hobbs had filed a suit against the legendary pop singer and his writing partner Bernie Taupin.
According to court documents, Hobbs claims that Elton and Taupin infringed on copyrights by using the theme of a Western man falling in love with a Russian woman. Hobbs also claims that Elton and Bernie ripped him off by using the phrase "I need you" in addition to the words "just" and "never."
"The suggestion that the Grammy-Award winning composer/lyricist team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin . . . would need to copy these commonplace elements from [Hobbs'] lyrics is not only baseless and absurd, but it also misses the essential legal point," reps for Elton and Bernie have said in a statement.
The point, added TMZ, is that Hobbs cannot claim copyright on such a broad theme.
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