Pink Floyd triumphs in online fight with EMI

British rockers Pink Floyd have won a lawsuit against their own record company over the way its songs are sold online.

A high court in the U.K. on Thursday ordered EMI Group Ltd. to stop selling individual downloads of the group's tracks from the band's original albums.

Judge Andrew Morritt ruled that a clause in the contract protected "the artistic integrity of the albums," which means that EMI can't divvy up songs for sale online from the band's albums.

He ordered EMI to pay the band's legal costs, 40,000 ($61,800 Cdn), and said he would issue anotherdecision on the damages.

The judge also ruled on a second issue, on the royalties paid to the band. That court decision was made in private after EMI argued the information is covered by commercial confidentiality.

Pink Floyd, which signed with EMI in 1967, has been a lucrative act for the record label.

The group's Dark Side of the Moon is one of the bestselling albums in music history, and its back catalogue has only been outsold by that of the Beatles.Its other albums include Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall and The Division Bell.

During the trial, an EMI lawyer argued over the definition of "album," saying the contract only applies to physical discs.

The band's lawyer contends the group should retain "artistic control" over their compilations, which remain "seamless."

They are not the only musicians to protest the way their songs are sold online. Garth Brooks and AC/DC have also objected to their albums being split up.