Avril Lavigne Settles With Rubinoos Over Copyright Lawsuit

Avril Lavigne has decided to reach a settlement instead of going to court to fight The Rubinoos' claim that her hit "Girlfriend" plagiarized their 1979 song, "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend."

Rubinoos members Tommy Dunbar and James Gangwer believe that "Girlfriend" borrowed too heavily from their track and its chorus, "Hey, hey, you, you, I wanna be your boyfriend." They filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in California's Northern Federal District Court in July.

Lavigne denied that she'd ever heard the song and said that it bore no similarity to hers, which she wrote with Luke Gottwald. Lavigne's manager, Terry McBride, said he consulted with a musicologist who reached the same conclusion.

But their belief apparently wasn't as strong as their desire to avoid a potentially costly legal battle. The two sides reached a confidential agreement, and it's not known how much money might have changed hands. A settlement doesn't necessarily indicate an admission of copyright infringement.