BEYONCE KNOWLES - APPEALS COURT RULES IN BEYONCE'S FAVOUR IN COPYRIGHT CASE

APPEALS COURT RULES IN BEYONCE'S FAVOUR IN COPYRIGHT CASE

BEYONCE KNOWLES has been handed victory for a second time in a copyright infringement lawsuit over claims her 2003 hit BABY BOY was a direct rip-off of a song by an unsigned artist. A U.S. judge originally ruled in 2006 that there was no evidence to suggest the R+B superstar had copied a demo recording of a track by Jennifer Armour, who had sent in her tape to Knowles' manager-father Matthew and representatives at the star's record label, Columbia Records, in early 2003. Armour launched an appeal against the ruling last year (07), but in new legal papers it was discovered the majority of the writing and recording of Knowles' Grammy-winning Baby Boy had been completed before Armour claimed to have submitted her demo tracks. According to a statement released on Wednesday (02Jan08), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit "upheld the 2006 trial court decision dismissing a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against Beyonce". And the Irreplaceable hitmaker is relieved the whole case is finally over: "It's unfortunate that we had to endure this long legal process, but I am hopeful this decision will allow all of us that were involved to finally move on."