Insanity: Men At Work Lose Final Appeal For Using Brief Riff Of Classic Folks Song, Which Went Unnoticed For Decades

from the pay-up dept

More copyright insanity coming from down under. As you may recall, a couple years ago, the music publisher Larrikin sued for copyright infringement over the 80s pop hit Down Under by the band "Men at Work," claiming that it infringed on a classic Australia folk song, called Kookaburra. It seemed odd that it would take decades for anyone to make this claim, and even the boss at Larrikin only noticed it when an Australian quiz show mentioned it in a question. Then, suddenly, Larrikin wanted to get paid. The district court sided with Larrikin as did the appeals court. Now, as a bunch of you have been sending in, Australia's high court is refusing to hear the appeal, meaning the appeals court ruling stands... and apparently a big chunk of royalties from the pop song will be going to Larrikin -- who had nothing to do with the song and didn't even notice the weak connection until someone pointed it out.

At best, the Men at Work song is an homage to the folksong. All this ruling has done is demonstrate how copyright can be used to put a toll on culture.

Filed Under: australia, copyright, down under, kookaburra, men at work
Companies: emi, larrikin music

Appeals Court Still Says 'Down Under' Infringes On Decades Old Folk Song

from the men-at-work dept

A couple years ago, Australian music publisher Larrikin Music accused the iconic 80s Australian band "Men at Work" (and its label, EMI) of infringing on its copyright for the classic Australian folk song Kookaburra in their hit song Down Under. You can listen to both songs in the videos below:

If you can't tell (and some can't), a bit of the flute line in the Men at Work song is similar to the meldoy in Kookaburra. Most normal people would call this a tribute or an homage. But not Larrikin. The company, which only got the rights to Kookaburra (which was written in the '30s) in 2000, hadn't even noticed the similarity until it was mentioned in a game show on TV. So, of course, Larrikin sued. And, amazingly, it won... leading the court to grant Larrikin 5% of all of the song's earnings.

This is ridiculous for a variety of reasons. It's clearly not a straight copy, but a use of the well-known folk song to represent the atmosphere of Australia. The fact that Larrikin didn't even notice until it was pointed out on TV should also suggest that this wasn't some massive infringement issue. Finally, the fact that the song was a hit in the early '80s should have set off some sort of statute of limitations issue. Instead, Larrikin won...

EMI reasonably appealed the ruling, but chillienet points out that Larrikin has won on appeal as well, as a three-judge panel ruled that the song is infringing. The court even ordered EMI to pay the court costs as well. I guess the lesson is clear: don't promote decades old folk songs in your music in Australia.

Filed Under: australia, copyright, folk song, kookaburra
Companies: emi, larrikin music