But only after BlueBeat owner Hank Risan tried a courageous defense, sent from his iPhone - that he, and not EMI or Apple Corps, own the copyright to the songs in question, because he authored them using a “psycho-acoustic simulation device”.

SEE ALSO: EMI Suing $0.25-A-Track Beatles Site

“Psycho-acoustic simulations are my synthetic creation of that series of sounds which best expresses the way I believe a particular melody should be heard as a live performance,” Risan wrote to RIAA lawyer Steve Ranks, claiming to have developed “entirely new and original sounds” - that just happen to sound like originals.

EMI’s lawyers were having none of it, accusing BlueBeat of “thumbing their noses” to labels: “Put simply, defendants are engaged in digital music piracy of the most blatant kind” (the full plaintiff case is interesting in itself as an illustration of how a label sets out a prosecution).

And the judge agreed, granting a temporary restraining order that stops BlueBeat from selling the music, and noting: “(The) defendant cannot invalidate the copyright of an independent and preexisting sound recording, simply by incorporating that recording in to an audiovisual work”.

More at Epicenter and Copyrights & Campaigns

Case closed. BlueBeat gets back to where it once belonged. Will the next plucky music site get in the line please?