LEGAL FILE

Waits Wins: Without comment Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a $2.5-million award to gravel-voiced singer Tom Waits over use of a “sound-alike” artist to mimic his voice in a television commercial. The court rejected arguments by Frito-Lay and its advertising firm that federal copyright law bars such damage awards. Waits has refused for years to perform in commercial advertising, and his attorneys presented testimony from people who thought the voice in the commercial was his. Frito-Lay and its advertiser argued that although they consciously imitated Waits’ style in creating the Doritos commercial, they did not deliberately imitate his voice. The Supreme Court previously had let stand a $400,000 award to pop singer Bette Midler over a 1986 Ford commercial that used a sound-alike voice.