Singer Tom Waits has won a court case in Spain over claims a car company impersonated his voice and changed one of his songs without his permission on a TV advert.
As previously reported, Volkswagen-Audi aired the adverts, which used a Waits impersonator singing a version of the track 'Innocent When You Dream', on Spanish television. Waits famously refuses to participate in any advertising campaigns, and had specifically turned down an approach by the production behind the ad campaign before they went the impersonator route.
Waits and publisher Hans Kusters Music had already won an initial court judgement on this case in Mar 2004 - yesterday's ruling was made by Barcelona's Appeal Court. A spokesman for Waits, who said the singer will receive several thousand euros in compensation, told reporters this was the first time a Spanish court had upheld an artist's 'moral rights' - which protect the artist's 'personality and reputation' - in a copyright case. Waits himself added: "Now they understand the words to the song better. It wasn't 'Innocent When You Scheme', it was 'Innocent When You Dream'."
Waits is also suing General Motors and their ad agency McCann Erickson over similar allegations regarding a totally separate TV ad campaign in Germany.