The song with which Greece won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 with Helena Paparizou was supposed to be composed by Christos Dantis (who also participated in Greek national final of 2007).
After her triumph in Kyiv, composer Manos Psaltakis claimed the song and went to courts for the rights of the song. Today the Greek courts ruled that the song is indeed of Manos Psaltakis and not of Christos Dantis.
Christos Dantis told peoplegreece.com that he is not aware of the development but in the end he is not considering his song as stolen.
This decision is the final one after an appeal to the original ruling some years ago. Christos Dantis lost the appeal therefore everytime he claims the song as his, he will be fined with 1,000 Euros to Mr Manos Psaltakis.
UPDATE: THE COURT DECISION
“With the 4729/2013 Decision of First Instance Court of Athens, acknowledged the infringement of copyright Mr. E. Psaltakis in his work (case handled by attorneys, Helle G. Roussos) on behalf of Mr. Chr. Dantes and acknowledged that verse of his song «My number one» is a project of Manos Psaltaki. Also awarded amount EUR 20,000 for non-pecuniary damage.”
UPDATE: EBU RESPONDS
The European Broadcasting Union informed about the case of “My number one” and they were kind enough to respond to the story: “Mr Psaltakis can address any request for changing the records to the Reference Group, via the EBU, with a copy of the court verdict and a translation signed/stamped by court. The Reference Group then will decide”. Concerning if this means something to the victory of Greece in Eurovision 2005 the EBU was clear: “My Number One won the Eurovision Song Contest. And that won’t change”.
