Two former members of defunct British pop group BUSTED lost a $20 million (GBP10 million) battle for the band's song royalties at London's High Court on Friday (06Jun08).
Ki MCPhail and Owen Doyle claim they helped to pen four tracks including Year 3000 and What I Go To School For with James Bourne and Matt Willis when they formed a group called The Termites in January 2001.
The band then changed their name to Busted after signing to a management company in March that year (01).
But when MCPhail and Doyle were fired from the band 10 months later, they are alleged to have been forced by "threats" and "undue pressure" to sign away their royalty rights to Bourne and Willis.
The two songs in question then became hit singles for the remaining members of Busted, with new recruit Charlie Simpson on lead vocals.
The duo launched the lawsuit seeking $20 million (GBP10 million) earlier this year (08).
However, Judge Morgan dismissed all their claims at the latest hearing - critisising the evidence they provided in court, saying of Doyle, "(He) was not a reliable witness. He manifested a high degree of confusion and a failure to grasp the detail in relation to many of the significant events".
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