Men at Work plagiarised song, rules court
Men at Work plagiarised song, rules court in Sydney
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 04, Feb 2010 12:58
By inthenews.co.uk staff.
Australian band Men at Work could be hit by a huge bill after a court ruled it had plagiarised a Girl Guides song in the 1980s hit Down Under.
The band may need to pay millions in royalties after the song was found to have been in breach of copyright on the song Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, written by Marion Sinclair in 1934.
Publishing company Larrikin Music owns the copyright to the song following the death of Ms Sinclair in the 80s. Larrikin Music took the band to court over the flute rift used in Down Under - which was very similar to that in the campfire song - and was told in Sydney that the band would be ordered to pay compensation.
Federal Court judge Peter Jacobson said: "I have come to the view that the flute riff in Down Under in the 1979 recording and 1981 recording infringes on the copyright of Kookaburra, because it replicates in material form a substantial part of Ms Sinclair's 1935 work."
Down Under was used in the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics and was number one in Australia, the US and the UK.