Sweet Lawsuit Goes Sour: '70s Rockers Out £50,000 Over $1 eBay CD Sale (REPORT)

Although sources close to the group are denying the claim, reports indicate that Sweet guitarist Andy Scott has been left with a £50,000 (US$77,000) bill after unsuccessfully suing an Austrian man for selling one of their albums on eBay for approximate 70 pence (US$1.08).

According to the Express newspaper, the five-year dispute began when Scott tried to prevent Dietmar Huber from selling their album The Legend Lives On because he believed it to be an unauthorized bootleg recording.

Huber received a lawyer's letter as well as a bill for £2,000 (US$3,080) saying he infringed on the band's copyright. Huber said when he refused to pay that amount the band filed an injunction, demanding £36,000 (US$55,440) in compensation.

Sadly for Scott, 63, the case was dismissed when Huber proved he legally purchased the CD and it was not an illegal downloaded copy from the internet. But Sweet continued to challenge the ruling all the way up to the Austrian High Court, who ruled no crime or copyright had been breached as it was a private sale. Scott had claimed copyright infringement on the band's name and that Huber had no right to make the sale.

As a result, according to the Daily Mail, the group will be forced to pay for the court hearing as well as the legal bills for Huber.

"The end result according to the final Court of Appeal is that copyright and intellectual property protection in Austria is far short of what it should be," Scott's lawyer Wolfgang Maier said. Scott attended the court hearing but made no statement outside the courtroom.

While the band's biggest heyday was in the early '70s for hits like "Hell Raiser" and "Ballroom Blitz," the group has gone through a series of lineup changes over the years. Scott, singer Brian Connolly and bassist Steve Priest played together over the years as Sweet. Connolly died in 2002 but the band has carried on with Scott still performing.

The band's site also made no mention of the decision. Sweet released a covers album earlier this year entitled New York Connection and will tour through Britain and Europe for large chunks of 2012 behind it.