Abba wins suit on musical's authorship

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 23 (UPI) -- Members of the Swedish pop group Abba won their case on the authorship of the musical "Kristina fran Duvemala," the latest event in a 15-year dispute.

The Stockholm District Court ruled Friday that while dramatist Carl-Johan Seth wrote a script called "Kristina fran Duvemala," it was not this script that was eventually used for the musical, known in English as "Kristina," The Local said.

Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus claimed that Seth's original script was poor that they called in other writers and started over. The court agreed with Andersson and Ulvaeus that the final script was written by director Lars Rudolfsson and dramatist Jan Mark.

After the verdict was announced, Seth's lawyer, Staffan Michelson, indicated that his client would appeal.

"The district court has made an extraordinarily peculiar interpretation that the parties agreed on something other than the musical that premiered eight days later," Michelson said.

The case came to a head as Andersson and Ulvaeus developed plans to launch a Broadway version of the musical.