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Elton John, Copyright Infringement Claims: Icon Strikes Back Against 'Nikita' Lawsuit

Posted on Aug 13th 2012 2:00PM by Contessa Gayles

Elton John Copyright Infringement lawsuit Nikita Samuel Kubani, AFP/Getty Images

Elton John is not taking accusations that he ripped off another songwriter in order to pen his 1985 hit "Nikita" lightly. Back in April, Sir Elton was slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit from Guy Hobbs, a man who claims the icon stole lyrics from his own 1982 song, "Natasha."

According to TMZ, John and his team have responded to the claims in their own set of legal documents which 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 not only baseless and absurd, but it also misses the essential legal point."

Elton's Cold War-themed tune tells the tale of unrequited love with an East German female border guard, while Hobbs' lyrics describe his affair with a Russian cruise ship waitress. Hobbs apparently believes John lifted lyrics including, "I need you" -- not exactly an uncommon phrase as far as love songs go!

Hobbs, who filed his suit in Illinois, reportedly claims he copyrighted his song and shopped the lyrics around to multiple publishing companies, including Elton John song publisher, Big Pig Music Ltd.

See Elton in Our "Legends Then and Now" Gallery