A German court has ordered former Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore to pay damages after ruling the guitar solo in his 1990 hit "Still Got the Blues" had been plagiarized from a German song written in 1974.
A court in the southern city of Munich said on Wednesday the solo in Moore's song was too similar to the one in "Nordrach" by the band Jud's Gallery not to have been copied -- even though the German song was not available on record at the time.
In a statement, the court ordered Moore, 56, from Northern Ireland, and his record label to pay damages to band leader Juergen Winter who brought the case. The amount has yet to be fixed.
Moore had denied knowing the song, which the court said could only have been heard live or on radio at the time.
The court said it had no evidence the solo had been lifted deliberately, but that this was immaterial in copyright infringement.
Moore can appeal against the decision.
"Still Got the Blues" was the title track on Moore's album of the same name, one of the guitarist's most successful records. According to online chart database everyhit.com the single reached 31 in the British singles charts in May 1990.
Moore played with Thin Lizzy for a few months in 1974 and again in 1978-79 before leaving the Irish band to start a solo career.