While some copyright and royalty issues seem to drag on forever, the one between Sam Smith and Tom Petty went away without a hitch. And although the Smith camp has already settled things out of court and released a statement about the situation, we haven't heard much from Petty himself -- at least, until now.

Days after the incident, the 'Hypnotic Eye' singer-songwriter finally said his piece in a statement posted on his official website:

About the Sam Smith thing. Let me say I have never had any hard feelings toward Sam. All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen. Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by. Sam’s people were very understanding of our predicament and we easily came to an agreement. The word lawsuit was never even said and was never my intention. And no more was to be said about it. How it got out to the press is beyond Sam or myself. Sam did the right thing and I have thought no more about this. A musical accident no more no less. In these times we live in this is hardly news. I wish Sam all the best for his ongoing career. Peace and love to all.

Earlier this week, it came to light that Petty's people cited big similarities between Smith's 'Stay With Me' and the Heartbreakers' 1989 single, 'I Won't Back Down. Instead of fighting back, Smith responded by settling this without any legal action. Now his global hit cites Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, along with Smith, James Napier and William Phillips, as co-writers on 'Stay With Me,' which has already been changed on the ASCAP website.

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