I come from the land Down Under.
Where beer does flow and bands blunder
Australian band Men at Work stand to lose royalties after their record company lost its appeal against a lower court ruling that the chart-toppers plagiarized the flute riff for their 1982 hit Down Under.
Last year, EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty lost a copyright case brought by Larrikin Music Publishing Pty, which argued that that the reggae-inspired song lifted the flute part from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, a song it owns and which was written for a Girl Guides jamboree by schoolteacher Marion Sinclair in 1934.
Larrikin, which bought the rights to children’s song Kookaburra in 2002, was granted 5 per cent of royalties by the lower court.
The Melbourne band has earned millions of dollars in royalties from Down Under, a song used by national airline Qantas and among the most popular Australian songs of all time.
It was the soundtrack of Australia’s successful tilt at yachting’s America’s Cup in 1983 and featured in the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Plagiarized? You be the judges.
I am guessing this similarity does not help their case either.
Here is more on how the case was triggered and the reaction of Men At Work’s lead singer Colin Hay.
I can’t help but feel sorry for the band. Clearly, songwriters can be subconsciously inspired by tunes they have heard, without intending to lift them.
Coming soon: George Lucas sues Israeli band Hadag Nahash.
