German synth-pop pioneers Kraftwerk have won a long-running copyright battle relating to a brief sampling of their 1977 song Metal On Metal.

The electronic group filed suit against rap producers Moses Pelham and Martin Haas in 2000, amid allegations they used an uncleared two-second sample on the 1997 hit Nur Mir, performed by Sabrina Setlur.

A state court in Hamburg previously ruled that the defendants had violated Kraftwerk's copyright, but national civil court representatives overturned the decision in 2006, claiming the tune in question beared no resemblance to the original track.

Kraftwerk launched an appeal and the case reached Germany's Supreme Court last week (13Dec12), when officials sided with the band and awarded them victory.