LOS ANGELES : Bolton Hit Essentially Is 1966 Isley Song, Jury Finds

A federal jury ruled Monday that Michael Bolton’s “Love Is a Wonderful Thing” is essentially the same as a song of the same name released by the Isley Brothers in 1966.

The jury reached its decision after about 2 1/2 days of deliberations. Earlier Monday, the eight-member panel had announced that it was deadlocked, but U.S. District Judge Lourdes Baird ordered deliberations to continue. The jury will now decide damages.

The jury agreed with the Isleys and Three Boys Music Corp. that essential elements of the 1966 song, “Love Is a Wonderful Thing,” were present in the Bolton song that helped sell 10 million copies of his 1991 “Time, Love and Tenderness” album.

Attorney Robert Sugarman, representing Bolton and the song’s co-writer, Andrew Goldmark, had argued that the songs “look different and they sound different.”