Sir Elton John has urged an Illinois judge to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against him over his hit song Nikita.
The British rocker and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin were slapped with legal papers in April (12) by photojournalist/songwriter Guy Hobbs, who claimed Elton's 1985 chart smash bears striking similarities to his own tune Natasha, which he wrote three years prior.
In his court documents, Hobbs claimed he came up with the track, about his love affair with a Russian cruise ship waitress, and had it copyrighted before sending it out to various publishing companies, including Big Pig - the firm which handles the Rocket Man star's songs.
The plaintiff, who alleges it took him over two decades to take legal action because he moved to Africa in 1984, also accuses Elton and Taupin of copying common phrases like "I need you" in the chorus.
Representatives for both Sir Elton and Taupin responded to the allegations by dismissing the suit as "completely meritless", and now the famous pair has asked the judge overseeing the case to throw it out.
In court papers obtained by Tmz.com their lawyers state: "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... baseless and absurd."