Anti artist Tom Waits recently won a landmark legal case establishing the moral rights of a musician to his likeness. This was the first case of it's kind in Spain, and Waits took on car manufacturer Volkswagen-Audi (VAESA) and a Spanish production company for adapting one of Waits' songs and impersonating his voice in a television commercial.

The case is particularly notable because it acknowledging an artist's voice as his creative work. Waits, of course, is well-known for his distinctive vocals and style. The commercial, for Audi cars, was originally screened in Spain in 2000. As well as having much the same melodic structure as the Tom Waits' song 'Innocent When You Dream', the commercial's music was arranged like the song and featured a Tom Waits' vocal impersonation.

At the time of making the commercial Tandem Campany Guasch had sought permission to use Waits' original version of 'Innocent When You Dream', a request he rejected.

The judgement is the latest in a line of successful legal actions the fiercely independent Waits has taken to prevent his music and image from being associated with commercial products. He has most recently filed suit against General Motors' Opel and the advertising agency McCann Erickson in Frankfurt, Germany, for producing and broadcasting a series of car commercials that used a perfect impersonation of Waits' singing voice.

Waits most recently released Real Gone on Epitaph imprint Anti.