Taylor Hicks
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According to court documents filed Tuesday in a federal court in Hicks's hometown of Birmingham, Ala., the singer won possession of the master recordings of the songs, which been for sale on iTunes, the Associated Press reports.
In exchange, Hicks agreed not to pursue further legal action against producer William Smith. No money will change hands under the agreement, which Hicks's attorney Joe Leak described as "amicable."
Hicks filed suit earlier this month, claiming Smith tried to profit by selling three songs that the two wrote and recorded together: "The Fall," "Son of a Carpenter" and "In Your Time." Hicks said Smith lacked the rights to the music.
Smith, however, claimed he had signed contracts with Hicks, and that he'd released the songs mainly to help fend off critics' bad reviews of Hicks's single, "Do I Make You Proud," released after he won Idol in May.
Two of the songs were briefly for sale on iTunes, but Smith and Leak agreed that few if any copies were sold before the songs were removed at Hicks's request.
Of the settlement, Leak said, "We were primarily just making sure that Taylor had the rights to the music."
