From BBC News Online

A music publisher that says Australian band Men At Work stole a melody from a children's song in hit Down Under has won the first stage of a court battle.

Larrikin claims the flute riff from the 1981 hit is stolen from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, written by Marion Sinclair for the Girl Guides in 1934.

The band disputed Larrikin's claim that it bought the song's copyright in 1990.

But a judge in Sydney has ruled that the publisher does own the song, clearing the way for a plagiarism case.

Larrikin Music is suing Sony BMG and EMI for breach of copyright and is seeking royalties from the hit 80s song.

The publisher began the action after the alleged similarities were pointed out in a music quiz programme shown in Australia in 2007.

Lawyers for the record companies have denied the plagiarism claim.

They had also argued that the Kookaburra copyright was never properly signed over by Sinclair - who died in 1988 - and still belonged to the Girl Guides movement.

No date has been set for the next hearing.

Down Under, a number one in Australia, the US and the UK, tells the story of an Australian backpacker touring the world.

It pays tribute to "a land down under where beer does flow and men chunder".

The song also references popular Australian food spread Vegemite.

"I said 'do you speak my language?', he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich," it says.

How petty! Men At Work did so much for Australia and now everyone else is trying to cash in. I suppose the similarities in tune are there for a few seconds, but the tempo is totally different. Here's a You Tube example...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCyB2l5wqLE

It's beyond petty...it's downright ugly.  And why file the suit in 2007, 25 years after it was released? 

Publishers can do outrageous things with extended copyright.  "Happy Birthday To You" is STILL not in the public domain.  I've seen it conspicuously avoided in several films and TV shows because Warner Chappell wants ten grand every time it's performed!
::)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You

How petty! Men At Work did so much for Australia and now everyone else is trying to cash in. I suppose the similarities in tune are there for a few seconds, but the tempo is totally different.


"did so much for Australia" ????????????

As an Australian I say "WHAT ?". They did diddly squat. They were a bunch of Scots taking the absolute piss out of everything Aussie. Only the brainless saw it as a "tribute". Everyone else cant stand it.

And yes they well and truly ripped off Kookaburra. Its a fact and they freely admitted it in every single interview back in the early 80s when it was first released.

Its a fact and they freely admitted it in every single interview back in the early 80s when it was first released.


Well they should've filed their suit back then! Nothing but money grabbers.

  They sure waited long enough to complain.  Qwikey...

  Isn't there an expiration date for such suits?  Oughta be.  I don't care what Australians think, Men at Work rocks..!

"did so much for Australia" ????????????

As an Australian I say "WHAT ?". They did diddly squat. They were a bunch of Scots taking the absolute piss out of everything Aussie. Only the brainless saw it as a "tribute". Everyone else cant stand it.

And yes they well and truly ripped off Kookaburra. Its a fact and they freely admitted it in every single interview back in the early 80s when it was first released.


Wasn't it just Colin Hay who was a native Scot?
???

   They sure waited long enough to complain.  Qwikey...

   Isn't there an expiration date for such suits?  Oughta be.  I don't care what Australians think, Men at Work rocks..!


Not sure on the legal intricacies, but the common 'time bar' is 6 years. This can be appealed though if you have a strong enough case.

And yes it was only Colin Hay who has Scottish roots... his family emigrated in 1967 when he was 14. And to be fair, most Australians have their roots to a 'not so long ago' Europe.

Wasn't it just Colin Hay who was a native Scot?
???


I think you're correct - all the others were Australian from what I know..

Personally speaking, as an Australian, I like the song and most of what Men at Work did - plus we take the mickey out of ourselves all the time !  That's what makes us who are !  8)  ;D

Not sure on the legal intricacies, but the common 'time bar' is 6 years. This can be appealed though if you have a strong enough case.

And yes it was only Colin Hay who has Scottish roots... his family emigrated in 1967 when he was 14. And to be fair, most Australians have their roots to a 'not so long ago' Europe.


  I wonder how many Aussies can trace their roots back to the convicts transported there from Britain...

  I wonder how many Aussies can trace their roots back to the convicts transported there from Britain...
I would say most of them.

  I wonder how many Aussies can trace their roots back to the convicts transported there from Britain...



I would say most of them.


And you are qualified to know this  ???

And you are qualified to know this  ???
As in my studies of genealogy, I have read that after serving the seven year sentence in the penal colony, some were given the option to stay put, than go back to blighty.

As in my studies of genealogy, I have read that after serving the seven year sentence in the penal colony, some were given the option to stay put, than go back to blighty.


We have Australian's here now, that have descended from many other countries so I don't believe your original statement to be fact.

We have Australian's here now, that have descended from many other countries so I don't believe your original statement to be fact.
Come to think of it, there are immigrants from other countries, i.e. Justin Langer has a Germanic surname.

We have Australian's here now, that have descended from many other countries so I don't believe your original statement to be fact.
This subject deserves a new topic of it's own.

Come to think of it, there are immigrants from other countries, i.e. Justin Langer has a Germanic surname.


..and there's more than just a cricketer! We've come a long way baby  :)

Come to think of it, there are immigrants from other countries, i.e. Justin Langer has a Germanic surname.


And Dieter Brummer from Home & Away!  ;)

Australian Ethnic Groups

A

   * Afghan (Australia)
   * Afghan Australian
   * Albanian Australian
   * Anglo
   * Anglo-Celtic
   * Anglo-Celtic Australian
   * Arab Australian
   * Armenian Australian
   * Asian Australian
   * Assyrians in Australia

B

   * Bosnian Australian
   * Bulgarian Australian

C

   * Caribbean Australian
   * Chilean Australian
   * Chinese Australian
   * Croatian Australian
   * Czech Australians

D

   * Danish Australian
   * Dutch Australian

E

   * Ecuadorian Australian
   * Egyptian Australian
   * English Australian
   * Ethiopian Australian
    * European Australian
   * Europeans in Oceania

F

   * Filipino Australian
   * French Australian

G

   * German Australian
   * Greek Australian
   * Greek Precinct, Melbourne

H

   * Han Chinese subgroups
   * Hungarian Australian

I

   * Iraqi Australian
   * Italian Australian

J

   * Jamaican Australian
   * Jordanian Australian

K

   * Korean Australian
   * Kosovar Australian

L

   * Latin American Australian
   * Lebanese Australian

M

   * Macedonian Australian
   * Malaysian Australian
   * Maltese Australian
   * Manx Australian
   * Maori Australian
   * Montenegrin Australian

P

   * Pakistani Australian
   * Peruvian Australian
   * Polish Australian

R

   * Romanian Australian
   * Russian Australians

S

   * Samoan Australian
   * Scottish Australian
   * Serbian Australian
   * Slovene Australian
   * South African Australian
   * South Sea Islander
   * Spanish Australian
   * Sri Lankan Australian
   * Sudanese Australian
   * Swedish Australian
   * Swiss Australian

T

   * Taiwanese Australian
   * Thai Australian
   * Trinidadian Australian
   * Turkish Australian

U

   * Ukrainian Australian
   * Uruguayan Australian

V

   * Vietnamese Australian

Z

   * Zimbabwean Australian


This might assist you in what goes on in other parts of the world...hopefully....

And yes it was only Colin Hay who has Scottish roots... his family emigrated in 1967 when he was 14.


And he left Aus as soon as he possibly could and has done nothing but refer to it derogatively ever since. So seeing as how he personally has never considered himself to be Australian, and he was never naturalised, and he hasnt lived here for decades, there is no reason for me to think of him as an Australian. He is a very nasty piece of work and I know that from personal experience.

And that wretched song belongs in a garbage can. I prefer Be Good Johnny or Who Can it Be Now as far as Men At Works tiny offerings to the music world are concerned.