6 years after Dana International won the Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham (pictured) with Diva, an Israeli musical arranger is now suing the song's composer, claiming he was denied of his legal rights over the song's musical arrangement.
The musical arranger, Alon Levin, has recently appealed to the Tel Aviv court against Tzvika Pik, composer of Diva, claiming Pik had denied him his legal rights over the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest winner. Levin claims he was called upon to create a musical arrangement to Diva by Tzvika Pik himself, prior to the internal Eurovision selection the Israeli braodcaster made in 1998. Furthermore, after the song was chosen to represent Israel (performed by Dana International) at that year's Eurovision Song Contest, Levin was asked to shorten the entry so that it's length would match the EBU's regulations.
A few months after the song had won the contest in Birmingham, Alon Levin was amazed to find out he was left out of the song's copyrights owners list, leaving Tzvika Pik as the sole owner of the song's musical copyrights. Alon Levin now sues Tzvika Pik for at least 1 million Israeli Shekels (approx. 200,000 euros), and stated the amount may change when he learns more about Pik's profits from the song.
Tzvika Pik commented to Yediot Ahronot saying he was not aware Levin decided to prosecute and that he already denied all accusations against him in this matter in the past.
