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Legal
Men accused of stealing from girls
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 31 July 2009
Men At Work have been accused of stealing the melody of their 1983 hit ‘Down Under’ from Girl Guide campfire favourite ‘Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree’. The claim has been made by publishing company Larrikin Music, who gained the right to fight the case in court yesterday when a judge ruled that they did own the copyright to song the band are accused of borrowing from – something that had been in question.
‘Kookaburra…’ was written by teacher Marion Sinclair in 1934, and remains a popular song with Girl Guides the world over (so I am told). Larrikin argue that Men At Work stole a flute riff from the song for ‘Down Under’.
However, lawyers for the band’s label and publishers, Sony Music and EMI Songs Australia, argued in court last month that the claim was irrelevant because Larrikin Music were not the owners of the rights in Sinclair’s song, going as far as to claim the Girl Guide movement had a better claim to ownership. The judge thought otherwise, though, and yesterday ruled that the company had legitimately purchased the rights from her estate when Sinclair died in 1988.
Larrikin Music will now move to sue Sony and EMI for breach of copyright and compensation from royalties earned from the song by Men At Work.
