80's Pop Band "Men At Work" Lose First Stage of Copyright Lawsuit

[Brian Damage]

SYDNEY — A music publisher that has accused Australian band Men at Work of stealing the melody to their 1980s smash hit "Down Under" from a campfire song won the first stage of its lawsuit on Thursday seeking royalties from the Aussie anthem.

A federal judge ruled that publisher Larrikin Music owns the copyright to the tune of "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree" — a Girl Guide favorite from New Zealand to Canada. The judge's ruling clears the way for a further hearing about whether Men at Work is guilty of copyright infringement.

Larrikin claims the distinctive flute riff in "Down Under" was copied from the refrain of "Kookaburra," a song about the native Australian bird written in 1934 by a teacher named Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition. Sinclair died in 1988.

Lawyers for Men at Work's recording companies — Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Songs Australia — reject that claim. They had also argued that Larrikin doesn't even own the copyright to the children's tune, telling the judge last month that the Girl Guides — known as Girl Scouts in the U.S. — were more entitled to the rights.

But on Thursday, Federal Court Judge Peter Jacobson ruled that Larrikin did indeed own the copyright to "Kookaburra," accepting the publisher's claim that it bought the rights after Sinclair's death.

Larrikin is suing Sony and EMI for breach of copyright and compensation from royalties earned by Men at Work.

"Down Under" and the album it was on, "Business As Usual," reached No. 1 on the Australian, American and British charts in early 1983. The song remains an unofficial anthem for Australia and was ranked fourth in a 2001 music industry survey of the best Australian songs. Men at Work won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

The court did not immediately set a date for the next hearing in the lawsuit.

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[Schmoopie]

That's horrible! I love Men at Work and now these morons are going to sue them over 20 years later, saying they stole their music? This happens all the time these days. I hate hearing the beginning of what I think is one song and having it turn out to be another. The only exception would be Simply Red's "Sunrise" which is done to the music from Hall and Oats' "I Can't Go For That", and Hilary Duff's "Reach Out and Touch Me" to the music from Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus."

[Hollow]

i listened to the song, and just like with almost every "copied melody" case i hear about, the original melody is extremely generic and coincidences as vague as this one are bound to happen. i've had my share of melodies that i wrote from scratch and later heard very similar versions of in other songs. there are hundreds of universally identified elements of music theory, and when more than one person likes the same element, similarities are just plain inevitable. proficient composing doesn't happen solely by just sitting down with a guitar and figuring out what sounds cool. two melodies may sound alike because both composers, for example, liked ascending minor scales and decided to build it on that. **** happens.

[catlover79]

They waited 26+ years to sue?? Good grief.

[ABlairican Pie]

I thought that "Kookaburra" song was one of those public domain songs where there was no particular author or publisher. The chorus to "Down Under" sounds only VAGUELY like the Kookaburra chorus. I must be missing something.


Gee, plaintiffs, don't spend your winnings all in one place.