NEW YORK - Pop singer Madonna lost a nearly year-long bid to stop an auction of intimate items, including a breakup letter from rap legend Tupac Shakur.

A judge on Tuesday ruled that the Material Girl had directed her legal action against the wrong target in going after Darlene Lutz, a New York art dealer who helped Madonna build a collection before falling out with her.

Lutz had been the main source for 22 items, including love letters, cassettes and a hairbrush, that were up for sale by auction house Gotta Have Rock and Roll until a judge issued an injunction in July.

New York Judge Gerald Lebovits, in a ruling based on narrow legal grounds rather than on Madonna's claims of violations of privacy, agreed with Lutz, who said that her disputes with Madonna were settled by a 2004 legal agreement between the former friends.

Lebovits, in a decision dated last week but made public Tuesday, also questioned why madonna was pursuing Lutz and not the singer's assistants, who Madonna said had handed items to the art dealer.

"If plaintiff's allegations are accepted as true - that Lutz received the letters through inadvertent actions of the plaintiff's assistants," Lebovits wrote, then her case against Lutz is "time-barred and improper."

The auction house said it would press ahead in July with the sale of Madonna merchandise including the offending letter from Tupac. - AFP