Men At Work lose plagiarism case in Australia

[Don]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8497433.stm

The Australian band Men at Work are facing a big legal bill after a court ruled it had plagiarised a Girl Guides' song in its 1983 hit, Down Under.

Larrikin Music had claimed the flute riff was stolen from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, written by Marion Sinclair in 1934.

The federal court in Sydney ordered compensation to be paid.

That amount has yet to be determined but Larrikin's lawyer said it could reach 60% of income from the song.

"It's a big win for the underdog," said Larrikin's lawyer Adam Simpson after the judgment.

Sinclair, who died in 1988, wrote the song for performance at a Girl Guides Jamboree in 1935.

Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree has since been sung by generations of Australian schoolchildren.

A costs hearing will take place in late February, with Larrikin seeking 40%-60% of earnings from songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert and record companies Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Songs Australia.

Down Under, first released in 1983, was used in the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

A number one in Australia, the US and the UK, the song 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 refers to the popular Australian food spread Vegemite.

"I said 'Do you speak my language?', he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich," says an Australian traveller in Brussels.

[S2M]

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

[JH'sTXfan]

We used to sing the Kookaburra song in elementary school choir. I don't hear enough of a resemblance to warrant a lawsuit.

[Rip Rokken]

I'm haven't heard why this is happening now, 27 years after the song was released? Surely the suit hasn't been going on that long.

[Rick]

I'm haven't heard why this is happening now, 27 years after the song was released? Surely the suit hasn't been going on that long.

According to the Youtube clip above, the lady that wrote it sold her rights to a music publishing company before she died, and they're suing.

[Moon Beam]

What a crock of Kookaburra this is, sounds like two different songs to me.

[lights1961]

27 years later??? PLEASE. only people making money here is???? LAWYERS...

[Sarah]

I totally hear it, but yeah.... 27 years later is stupid.

[Ehwmatt]

I can't believe this claim would even still be valid. I don't know much about Australia's legal system...

[artist4perry]

The two are not remotely alike. Not fair I say. So many songs have parts of other songs in them now. There is no "new" sound hardly left. I mean the song Right now........country song about cheeting, has a blatent rip off of LTS. At the end she does the Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, slightly different, but closer than Kooky berrie to LDU.

[squirt1]

I remember them as an 80's band with 2 -3 songs. Did they have any more success in Australia ?

[Saint John]

What a crock of Kookaburra this is, sounds like two different songs to me.

Agreed. I'd tell that fucking music company to kiss my skin-rocks. They used somewhat similar phrasing and copied no lyrics. Big fucking deal. That silly nursery rhyme was completely worthless, and the MAW song is an iconic tune. I'd throw them a couple hundred bucks, suggest they go upgrade the old lady's headstone, and tell them to fuck off.

[kgdjpubs]

I remember them as an 80's band with 2 -3 songs. Did they have any more success in Australia ?

Andrew can comment more, but I believe the answer to that question is yes.

You have to remember that the Australian music scene (due in part to being VERY isolated from the rest of the world) is quite different to most countries. There's a bunch of home-grown bands (ie John Farnham, Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes, Noiseworks, etc) that are considered legends there, but didn't make much of a dent in the UK/US markets....and visa versa. Very few bands broke in or broke out. AC/DC, INXS, and--to a lesser extent--Men at Work are some of the few--and generally, it had NOTHING to do with the music itself. To that extent, it's a very strange music scene by the worldwide standards because so much of it is Australian bands/musicians.

[Ehwmatt]

I remember them as an 80's band with 2 -3 songs. Did they have any more success in Australia ?

Andrew can comment more, but I believe the answer to that question is yes.

You have to remember that the Australian music scene (due in part to being VERY isolated from the rest of the world) is quite different to most countries. There's a bunch of home-grown bands (ie John Farnham, Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes, Noiseworks, etc) that are considered legends there, but didn't make much of a dent in the UK/US markets....and visa versa. Very few bands broke in or broke out. AC/DC, INXS, and--to a lesser extent--Men at Work are some of the few--and generally, it had NOTHING to do with the music itself. To that extent, it's a very strange music scene by the worldwide standards because so much of it is Australian bands/musicians.

You forgot Little River Band! Legends.

[kgdjpubs]

I remember them as an 80's band with 2 -3 songs. Did they have any more success in Australia ?

Andrew can comment more, but I believe the answer to that question is yes.

You have to remember that the Australian music scene (due in part to being VERY isolated from the rest of the world) is quite different to most countries. There's a bunch of home-grown bands (ie John Farnham, Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes, Noiseworks, etc) that are considered legends there, but didn't make much of a dent in the UK/US markets....and visa versa. Very few bands broke in or broke out. AC/DC, INXS, and--to a lesser extent--Men at Work are some of the few--and generally, it had NOTHING to do with the music itself. To that extent, it's a very strange music scene by the worldwide standards because so much of it is Australian bands/musicians.

You forgot Little River Band! Legends.

well, I kinda had them covered when I mentioned their best singer in Farnham...

[Ehwmatt]

I remember them as an 80's band with 2 -3 songs. Did they have any more success in Australia ?

Andrew can comment more, but I believe the answer to that question is yes.

You have to remember that the Australian music scene (due in part to being VERY isolated from the rest of the world) is quite different to most countries. There's a bunch of home-grown bands (ie John Farnham, Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes, Noiseworks, etc) that are considered legends there, but didn't make much of a dent in the UK/US markets....and visa versa. Very few bands broke in or broke out. AC/DC, INXS, and--to a lesser extent--Men at Work are some of the few--and generally, it had NOTHING to do with the music itself. To that extent, it's a very strange music scene by the worldwide standards because so much of it is Australian bands/musicians.

You forgot Little River Band! Legends.

well, I kinda had them covered when I mentioned their best singer in Farnham...

Oh god no, not for LRB. Excellent singer in his own right, but to me that was like having Perry in The Rolling Stones or to keep the generational analogy consistent, in Duran Duran.

BSG is the best LRB lineup. I do like the current incarnation with Greg Hind and Wayne Nelson singing though... saw them a few years ago. Very polished live sound. LRB was also my very first concert, went with my dad when I was 6 and saw them + Seals & Crofts.

[7 Wishes]

Complete rubbish. Appalling ruling by the courts down under. What a joke.

[steveo777]

What kind of court system is this? What a bunch of poppycock! Complete bullocks.

[SherriBerry]

Who actually decided this case and I would assume MAW can appeal? I don't hear enough similarity at all to even consider it plagiarized! It isn't like Coldplay ripping off Joe Satriani on 'If I Could Fly' - at least he had a reasonable case, especially when Chris Martin was quoted as saying (before Coldplay was sued) that they weren't talented, they just copied other artists.

[Angiekay]

My take on it was always they were saluting or tipping the hat to their homeland by making a reference to that song. Guess the Kookaburra is broke, has no tree and no gumdrops left to eat so he has to sue someone for infringing on his rights.

[Red13JoePa]

Brutal verdict.

Wonder if Men At Work even KNEW about the jingle from 1935 when they made the song. Litigation gone-to-far in this case.

[Arianddu]

Most people here think it's hysterical, the best joke of the year.

Apparently the nephew of the author was unaware of it until he was watching a music quiz program that asked "which iconic Australian children's song is referenced in 'Land Down Under'?" He then went to the company that managed the rights to ask why they weren't paying the family the royalties from this very successful song, assuming that Men At Work had knowingly referenced the song (and the flute does mimic the song line of 'Kookaburra Sits In the Old Gum Tree'; the tempo is radically altered but the note structure is the same.) Problem is, once the company got involved it pulled in the lawyers. The nephew himself is a fan of the band and has said he would much rather have nutted it out over a beer, and is hoping to meet them.

Whether or not they will have to pay is currently being discussed. If they do, they will only pay royalties on the last 7 years, not the lifetime of the song.

[kgdjpubs]

I remember them as an 80's band with 2 -3 songs. Did they have any more success in Australia ?

Andrew can comment more, but I believe the answer to that question is yes.

You have to remember that the Australian music scene (due in part to being VERY isolated from the rest of the world) is quite different to most countries. There's a bunch of home-grown bands (ie John Farnham, Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes, Noiseworks, etc) that are considered legends there, but didn't make much of a dent in the UK/US markets....and visa versa. Very few bands broke in or broke out. AC/DC, INXS, and--to a lesser extent--Men at Work are some of the few--and generally, it had NOTHING to do with the music itself. To that extent, it's a very strange music scene by the worldwide standards because so much of it is Australian bands/musicians.

You forgot Little River Band! Legends.

well, I kinda had them covered when I mentioned their best singer in Farnham...

Oh god no, not for LRB. Excellent singer in his own right, but to me that was like having Perry in The Rolling Stones or to keep the generational analogy consistent, in Duran Duran.

BSG is the best LRB lineup. I do like the current incarnation with Greg Hind and Wayne Nelson singing though... saw them a few years ago. Very polished live sound. LRB was also my very first concert, went with my dad when I was 6 and saw them + Seals & Crofts.

I figured that might get a response. BSG is the better lineup for LRB, but I still maintain that Farnham is the far superior singer if you are going on pure talent alone. He doesn't appear to like them much either, for what it's worth. No real surprise when you take a singer famous for ad-libbing and changing melodies to suit his purpose on any given night and put him fronting a VERY structured band where the spontaneity of a live performance is not encouraged.