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*In a case that has dragged on since the 1990s, an Italian court ruled that Prince's 1994 hit "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" was plagiarized from a song by two Italian writers. However, a final ruling still has yet to take place.
For a sentence to become definitive in Italy, a "third degree" ruling is necessary and this could take several more years.
The Court of Appeals in Rome ruled that Prince's song borrowed heavily from "Takin' Me to Paradise," written by Bruno Bergonzi and Michele Vicino, according to Billboard.
In the sentence handed down, Prince must stop distributing the song on Italian soil. Plus, he faces having to pay the royalties he has so far collected to Bergonzi and Vicino and their publishers, but only if a final hearing confirms the Italian songwriting duo was plagiarized.
"Our song was first released in 1983, at the height of the Italian dance boom and it appeared on assorted compilations that were distributed internationally," Bergonzi tells Billboard.com. "When we first heard Prince's song we immediately took action, but this case has been dragging on for 15 years and it isn't over yet, such is the slowness of the Italian legal system. We only decided to go public with our story now."
The recent ruling is, in fact, an appeal against the original sentence, which, in 2003, rejected Bergonzi and Vicino's claim. This latest ruling was actually made in December 2007 and registered on Feb. 11 last year, but Bergonzi and Vicino have only now spoken out.
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