POP & ROCK

Although it cost him about $400,000 to defend himself, John Fogerty said there was more than money involved to winning his copyright infringement suit on Monday in San Francisco--one that had him ripping himself off for song ideas. The case was important, Fogerty said, because the suit--brought by Fantasy Records, the label he was bonded to during the Creedence Clearwater Revival days--might have forced creators to be very careful about borrowing their own ideas. “I saw the specter of a nightmare looming,” said Fogerty. “I could see William Shakespeare, John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen saying, ‘John, don’t blow this.’ ”