When it comes to compiling a list of the great songwriters of the past 50 years, Victor Willis' name would probably merit little more than an asterisk.

Far better known as the cop in the novelty 70s disco act the Village People, Willis is also remembered for a number of drug-related troubles in the early 2000s that nearly up-ended his post-Village People days.

But he has now been mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, after winning a court battle to claim at least a third of the copyrights for such songs as Macho Man, YMCA and In The Navy that he co-wrote for his old group.

The former "Macho Man", who says he has a new album, Solo Man, coming out in a few weeks, declined to say what kind of payday he expected the ruling by US District Judge Barry Moskowitz to bring him.

"But those songs, they gross millions a year, so it could be a significant thing," he noted.

Willis was a musician-actor who, among other things, had appeared on Broadway in The Wiz when Jacques Moreli decided to cash in on the disco craze in 1977 by putting together a group made up of beefy, macho-looking men dressed as a biker, a building worker, a policeman, a cowboy and an Indian chief.

Willis, the group's lead singer, was soon dancing up a storm with his cohorts to catchy beats while disco balls glittered and music blared around the US and in Europe.

The Village People sold tens of millions of records in the 1970s and Willis co-wrote all the big hits. But he also signed away his copyrights to the songs for a cut of the profits that today ranges from 12 to 20%.

"I was very young and naive," he said from New York today. "I didn't know at that point what I was going to be giving away. So If they put a contract in front of me, I signed it."

He says he suspects many other young artists did as well and hopes his court victory this week will eventually benefit them, too.

When Congress updated federal copyright law in 1978, it allowed songwriters to reclaim such signed-away copyrights after 35 years. Over time that is expected to affect the rights to songs by Dylan, Springsteen, Tom Petty, Billy Joel and others.

After Willis sought to get the copyrights to 33 songs back, the owners, Can't Stop Productions and Scorpio Music, sued to stop him, arguing that he was simply a "worker for hire" for the Village People and therefore had no stake in the songs.

They also argued that because his co-writers did not join him in seeking their share of the copyrights, Willis should not be granted his share either.

The companies dropped the "worker for hire" argument before Judge Moskowitz issued his ruling on Monday. The ruling determined that Willis did not need to join with the others.

Still to be determined is just how much of the copyrights he will control, one third or one half.

His co-writers are credited as Moreli and Henri Belolo, although Willis says he and Moreli really wrote the songs.

"Belolo didn't write anything. He was just the publisher," he said, adding he was confident that meant the court would give him 50%.

The music publishers' lawyer, Stewart Levy, disagreed, saying he expected Willis would get no more than a third, which he maintained was not much more lucrative than the 20% he receives these days for YMCA.

"We're disappointed of course but we don't think it's as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be," he said of Monday's ruling.

Willis' lawyer Brian Caplan said the case was the first addressing the rights of songwriters to terminate agreements they signed decades ago, and as such, lay the legal groundwork for others who sought to reclaim their copyrights.

That could open "a tremendous can of worms" for the music industry, said Mark Volman, co-ordinator of the Entertainment Industry Studies programme and an assistant professor at Belmont University in Tennessee.

"It would be a tremendous win (for songwriters) to get something like that in place," said Mr Volman, who as a founding member of the 1960s group the Turtles, fought his own share of battles over royalty rights signed away.

As for Willis, he says he is getting on with his career.

After a series of arrests on drug-related charges in the mid-2000s that resulted in a stint in rehab, he says his life has turned around in recent years.

"Life is fine. I went through whatever I went through, but everything is going great now," he said.