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"&lt;img alt=\"0810_elton_john_getty\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2012/08/10/0810-elton-john-getty-2.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elton John&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;#160;insists ... he did NOT steal the lyrics to his song \"&lt;strong&gt;Nikita&lt;/strong&gt;\" -- especially not from some NO-NAME songwriter -- despite a recent lawsuit that says otherwise ... and now, Elton's asking for the suit to be thrown out of court.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;TMZ broke the story ... a songwriter named &lt;strong&gt;Guy Hobbs&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2012/04/27/elton-john-nikita-lawsuit/\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sued Sir Elton&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; back in April, claiming Elton jacked his song lyrics ... then used them to pen the chart-topping 1985 hit \"Nikita\" ... without Hobbs' knowledge or consent.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But Elton is firing back -- filing his own legal docs in response, claiming, \"The suggestion that the Grammy-Award winning composer/lyricist team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin ... would need to copy these commonplace elements from [Hobbs'] lyrics is not only baseless and absurd, but it also misses the essential legal point.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Which is ... Hobbs can't legally copyright an idea -- especially not something as broad as a theme involving&amp;#160;a Western man falling for a Russian woman.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;According to the docs, Hobbs believes&amp;#160;Elton also copied his use of the EXTREMELY commonplace phrase \"I need you\" in the chorus ... as well as the words \"just\" and \"never.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bottom line -- Elton claims Hobbs' complaint is so vague ... the guy has no right to sue for copyright infringement, period.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Elton wants Hobbs' lawsuit dismissed stat. A judge has yet to rule.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a class=\"lightbox-link\" href=\"http://www.tmz.com/photos/2012/05/24/elton-johns-performance-pictures/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;&lt;img alt=\"0524_elton_john_performance_pictures_footer\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2012/05/24/0524-elton-john-performance-pictures-footer-1.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.tmz.com/2012/08/13/elton-john-nikita-lyrics-response-lawsuit/>