Men at Work Accused of Ripping Off Children's Song
- Posted on Jun 25th 2009 12:40PM by Ashley Iasimone
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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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