U2 are facing a multimillion-euro lawsuit over claims that they plagiarised the work of a British musician for their 1991 hit The Fly (Seán McCárthaigh writes).
Paul Rose, a songwriter and guitarist, claims that the band stole one of his works for the song, which appeared on the album Achtung Baby.
In a complaint filed on Monday night in the US district court in Manhattan, Mr Rose sought at least $5 million (€4.7 million) in damages from Paul Hewson, U2’s lead singer more commonly known as Bono, and his bandmates David Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr as well as Island Records.
Mr Rose said that the band lifted “signature elements” of his copyrighted song Nae Slappin. He said that this occurred at a