Men at Work Accused of Ripping Off Children's Song
- Posted on Jun 25th 2009 12:40PM by Ashley Iasimone
- Comments (35)
If you think you've heard the flute riff in Men At Work's 'Down Under' somewhere else, you may be on to something. A music publishing company, which owns the classic children's song 'Kookaburra,' claims that 'Down Under' rips off the kid's tune.Larrikin, which owns 'Kookaburra,' says that the accompanying melody to the lyric "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree" can be heard in 'Down Under.' Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, the 'Down Under' songwriters, will be meeting Larrakin in court to fight the dispute.
Lawyers on behalf of Hay, Strykert, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sony DADC Australia, EMI Songs Australia and EMI Music Publishing intend to argue that "the 'Down Under' work does not incorporate the whole or any substantial part of the 'Kookaburra' work," and that the Girl Guides, an Australian scouting group, actually hold the copyright to 'Kookaburra.'
The songs are set to battle it out over the alleged breach of copyright within days.
- Filed under: News, I Fought the Law
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Reader Comments(1 of 2)
elephantmanmusicat 6-25-2009
No one can legally copyright an anonymously written folk song. It is actually copyright infringement if you try. It is in the Public Domain and is open for anyone's use. Lawsuit over.
gteskey615at 6-25-2009
You are wrong, elephantmanmusic. You can copyright your arrangement of a public domain composition. Attempting to copyright something in the public domain is not infringement in any case. Whose copyright would you be infringing on?
Having said that, it is weird that Larrikin is only going for it now. Since the song is still out there I doubt if there is any statute of limitation on it.
Dragulazombieat 6-25-2009
Why the hell are they waiting this long? If they are that slow on things maybe they should have a lawsuit on them for being so dumb.
storeycoachat 6-25-2009
What year is it? Have I been asleep for 25 years?
spygrllat 6-25-2009
No doubt! What is the statute of limitations on something like that?
greengoddess420at 6-25-2009
i am 38 yrs old and have the album(vinyl)...i remember thinking as a child, "I know this song". I knew it came from a folk song. In fact I still have mt 3rd grade music book which acknowledges right under the title of the KOOKABURRA song that it is indeed and anonymous australian folk song...I just thought they were paying homage to their homeland...duh..Now I'm thinking why did they pick NOW to bring it up....greedy people just want money too......leave MEN AT WORK ALONE!!!!!!!
colorfulkennyat 6-25-2009
you'll make an excellent witness for the prosecution greengoddess
dcbrandtpdat 6-25-2009
Wasn't this song written almost 30 years ago? What took them so long to file a suit? It looks like the United States does not have a monoploy on greed after all.
prariwolfat 6-25-2009
Wow, he waited long enough to file a suit. What, was he on walkabout all this time?
pgaujean65at 6-25-2009
The song is almost 30 years old and they waited how long to figure this out???
sunshineat 6-25-2009
SOMEBODY WANTS SOME MONEY!!!!!! I guess anonymous will get it if they can sue!
olehippiat 6-25-2009
Greed....greed.....and more greed. I actually find it hard to believe that any attorney could be desperate enough to take this case.
Chevella454at 6-25-2009
Please go back to sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Is there nothing else for the healines? Good Night..
doyledadof7at 6-25-2009
You got to be kidding! What a joke. Greed indeed Kookaburra.
J 2 Kat 6-25-2009
Who cares, what a joke !!
jmuzikmonat 6-25-2009
30 years later is absurd, some one is looking for a payday, and my bet is it's a lawyer, scum sucking bottom feeders. Copyright laws can and do vary from country to country. The issue of public domain may be different down under than in the USA. But that still does not excuse the abhorent leach that brought this suit about. It should be thrown out as meritless.
ythserverat 6-25-2009
Really? They are just getting around to this now? Let it go! Should have said something I don't know...30 years ago...
Kimat 6-25-2009
Uhm. Duh. This is news-worthy?
hussywomnat 6-25-2009
Nice...well if that is the case then I want to sue because they said that the Kookaburra should have a "gay" life. Ridiculous I tell ya! We all love both Men At Work and the Kookaburra....can't we all just get along! Maybe we should all take a lesson from the Kookaburra and laugh!!!!!!!!!!
db1219at 6-25-2009
The song "Down Under" sucked. Who cares about this crap? A note to AOL---THIS IS NOT NEWS!!!!