Beyonce Knowles was not present at the court hearing

The appeals court in Houston, Texas upheld a 2006 decision which dismissed musician Jennifer Armour's claims that its lyrics were based on her work.

Beyonce said in a statement: "I am hopeful this decision will allow all of us involved to finally move on."

The song's co-writer, Jay-Z, was also mentioned in the legal action.

'Unfortunate'

Beyonce added: "It's unfortunate that we had to endure this long legal process."

Ms Armour claimed she had posted I Got A Little Bit Of Love For You to Beyonce's manager and record company in early 2003.

But the court found Baby Boy was written before her song had been sent.

The initial court hearing also found that "no reasonable person could conclude that the two songs sounded substantially similar to one another".

However, the appeals court simply upheld the dismissal of the case on the grounds that Baby Boy was in existence before Ms Armour allegedly submitted her demo tape.