I'm sure they were copying the 75 year old children's song....

[0000]

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/st...-vs-the-man-80s-band-charged-with-plagiarism/




you know when they sat down to write the song they said "damn it, we need a flute section...." "Oh, I know, that kid's folk song from the 30s has a great one, lets steal it"

what are your thoughts on this?

 

[Sweaty]

Well, they should not steal it blatantly, that would be bad, the original artist should get some credit and maybe some money to go to a relative or charity or am I getting too deep with this. What came first? the chicken or the egg?

 

[0000]

I just think the whole thing is stupid....
it's been 30 years since Down Under was written and released and 70 some since the other song was released.... I'm sure the artist of the other song is either in his 90s or dead...
people just can't leave things alone...

 

[Mr. Shadow]

Most likely Public Domain material by now.

 

[LG]

What a pile of Rubbish...seriously the original author hears the song by MAW and doesn't have a problem then this lawyer or whatever gets involved after they realize convincing a dumbass judge who knows nothing about music to rule in their favor...and then it turns out it's just a corporate deal and won't benefit the original band or her family?

Sometimes I think a little revolution is a good thing.

Utter Bollocks in my opinion.(Sweaty's influence is rubbing off.)

 

[Sunny]

What a pile of Rubbish...seriously the original author hears the song by MAW and doesn't have a problem then this lawyer or whatever gets involved after they realize convincing a dumbass judge who knows nothing about music to rule in their favor...and then it turns out it's just a corporate deal and won't benefit the original band or her family?

Sometimes I think a little revolution is a good thing.

Utter Bollocks in my opinion.(Sweaty's influence is rubbing off.)

Utter Bollocks in my opinion too!!

 

[TheFeldster]

Old news over here.

Heard and love both songs, never compared them until the news told me too, yes there's some similarity, but record companies need to stop being so trigger happy with their copyright infringements.

 

[annie]

They are tone deaf!! I used to sing this song at girl scout camp. The five notes of the Men At Work Song is the harmony to the melody of Kookaburra - if anything at all. I used to sing the harmony part.

Bullocks!!

 

[Soot and Stars]

Does a statute of limitations apply here at all? If there are laws that protect criminals who for example steal for real from being arrested for it after so many years why the hell wouldn't a songwriter be protected after that many years! What I've learned today? Stealing valuables, actual property and goods is less of a crime than sounding similar to a song! Epic fail here!

 

[METALPRIEST]