Famous Oz rock song 'Down Under'
accused of plagiarism

Australian rock band Men at Work have been
accused of plagiarising their 1980s hit
Down Under from a popular Girl Guide ditty.

A music publisher in Sydney has claimed in a
law suit that the flute solo in Down Under was
copied from the children's classic Kookaburra
Sits in The Old Gum Tree, composed by Marion
Sinclair, a Melbourne music teacher, in 1934.

Lawyers for Larrikin Music are sueing Sony BMG,
EMI and the two writers of Down Under - Colin
Hay and Ron Strykert. They allege that the song
reproduced "a substantial part" of Ms Sinclair's
composition without permission or the payment
of royalties.

The rock song, which describes Australia as a
place "where beer does flow and men chunder
(vomit)", became the unofficial national anthem
of Australia during the early 1980s and has
featured prominently at major sporting events
such as the 1983 Americas Cup and the 2000
Sydney Olympics. A far cry from Ms Sinclair's
innocent children's song, Down Under celebrates
the life of an Australian hippie who explores
the world with the help of beer and Vegemite
sandwiches.

Counsel for Sony BMG, EMI and the two band
members dispute that the claim that Larrikin
ever legally owned the copyright to Kookaburra
Sits in The Old Gum Tree. They claim that
the publishing rights were given to the Girl
Guide Association of Victoria as part of a
song competition in the 1930s.

Larrikin Music says that it acquired copyright
to the Kookaburra song in 1990. It launched
legal action in 2007 after the issue was raised
in a popular television show about popular music.

Mark Chipperfield in Sydney
Published: 1:29PM BST 25 Jun 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/56360\
03/Famous-Oz-rock-song-Down-Under-accused-of-plagiarism.html