Legal

Men At Work man fears losing house after plagiarism ruling

By | Published on Friday 9 July 2010

Men At Work’s Greg Ham has said that he fears he may have to sell his house, after it was ruled that his flute part in the band’s 80s hit ‘Down Under’ was stolen from the 1934 song ‘Kookaburra’. Although he is equally, if not more, upset at how the judgement will change people’s perception of the song.

As previously reported, back in February an Australian court ruled that Men At Work’s most famous track used a segment of the famous Aussie children’s folk song without permission, and that the owners of that song were therefore due a cut of the pop hit’s royalties. Independent music publisher Larrikin had previously convinced the Australian courts it was the legitimate owner of ‘Kookaburra’, which was written by the late Marion Sinclair in 1934.

Although EMI are appealing the original ruling – partly by claiming the use of a little bit of the ‘Kookaburra’ melody in ‘Down Under’ was at most a “tribute” to the folk song, and partly by again disputing Larrikin’s ownership of it –  it was ruled earlier this week that EMI and ‘Down Under’ writers Colin Hay and Ron Strykert (who in turn pay Ham a small royalty) will have to give Larrikin 5% of all money generated by the song since 2002, and 5% of all future royalties.

Ham told TheAge.com: “It has destroyed so much of my song. It will be the way the song is remembered and I hate that. I’m terribly disappointed that that’s the way I’m going to be remembered – for copying something. I’ll never see another cent out of that song again. We’ll face massive legal costs. At the end of the day, I’ll end up selling my house”.

He adds that he still does not accept that he stole anyone else’s material, saying: “No one detected it – I didn’t detect it and I played the fucking thing. I was looking for something that sounded Australian [and] that’s what came out. It was never ‘Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree’. Music’s always been about referring to what’s already in our culture”.



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