The Spice Girls have been ordered to pay out #400,000 after losing a legal battle with an Italian scooter firm at LONDON‘s High Court.
In February this year, the girls were found to have breached a sponsorship deal with the Aprilia SpA company ,who had manufactured a specially-themed ‘Sonic Spice’ scooter featuring a silhouette of the group’s original line-up. Aprilia claimed that the decision of Geri Halliwell to leave the group had left the deal in tatters.
Today, (July 20), Judge Mrs Justice Arden dismissed a claim by the Spice Girls for #218,000 unpaid sponsorship fees and ordered them to play #45,000 in damages to the company. They also have to pay #350,000 legal costs.
In her original ruling, the judge said that the Spice Girls had not considered the effect a change of line-up would have on Aprilia though she was satisfied they had known in April 1998, before the sponsorship deal was tied up in May 1998, that Geri intended to leave.