Canadian rock and pop singer Avril Lavigne has been absolved of plagiarizing by the two songwriters who had levelled the claim at her.
Washington, Jan 16 : Canadian rock and pop singer Avril Lavigne has been absolved of plagiarizing by the two songwriters who had levelled the claim at her.
Avril made the hit "Girlfriend," with writing partner Luke Gottwald on her album The Best Damn Thing, however Tony Dunbar and James Gangwer accused her of picking their song.
The two filed a lawsuit claiming that the wordings for the song came from the 1979 song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" by Dunbar and Gangwer's new wave group the Rubinoos.
Now however, the duo has changed their minds.
"We are satisfied that any similarities between the two songs resulted from Avril and Luke's use of certain common and widely used lyrics. We therefore completely exonerate Avril and Luke from any wrongdoing of any kind in connection with the claims made by us in our lawsuit," People magazine quoted one of them as saying.
The statement follows the disclosure that a confidential settlement had been reached in the federal lawsuit filed by Dunbar and Gangwer.
ANI