‘Men at Work’ to pay royalties for a rip-off
July 7th, 2010 - 8:38 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt
Sydney, July 7 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Men at Work, the popular Australian band have been ordered to pay part of their royalties form “Down Under”, a song that topped charts in the 1980’s, after it was found out that the song’s flute riff was pirated from a campfire song for children.
The original song’s copyright is owned by Larrikin Music and the publishing company was seeking 60% of the royalties that have been paid to the band.
The original song is called “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.” And from this song, the Men at Work song was pirated. It was written in the 1940’s by Marion Sinclair, who was a teacher. Sinclair wrote the song for girl guides. He passed away in 1988, but the publishing company went ahead to sue the band for copyright infringement.
Justice Peter Jacobson, who ruled on the lawsuit, said that Larrikin’s 60% royalties that it was seeking was “unrealistic” and “excessive” The ruling said that “Down Under” writers Colin Hay and Ron Strykert and the EMI songs Australia, the band’s recording company should pay 5% of their royalties from 2002.
“I consider the figures put forward by Larrikin to be excessive, overreaching and unrealistic,” Jacobson ordered.
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Tags: 1940, australia, campfire song, colin hay, copyright infringement, emi, girl guides, men at work, music, old gum tree, original song, peter jacobson, publishing company, riff, ron strykert, royalties, sinclair, sydney, topped charts