Copyright suit down under
July 7, 2010 at 10:19 am Leave a comment
Men At Work will lose 5% of the royalties from “Down Under” that they’ve earned since 2002 (on, yes, a nearly 30-year old song). The publishing company that sued their record company originally sought 60% of royalties because “Down Under” uses the 70-year-old “campfire song” “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” as its famous flute refrain.
Apparently use of the tune was fine for 27 years and now it’s not.
EMI plans to appeal the ruling.
BTW: If you go to the source website, you can see the “Down Under” video as well as a group of schoolchildren performing “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.” I’m curious if Larrikin Music will now sue the school and/or the person who uploaded that video to YouTube.
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