Australian band Men at Work were found guilty of plagiarising children's ditty "Kookaburra" in their 1980s hit "Down Under" after a court battle involving two of the nation's most iconic songs.
Federal Court judge Peter Jacobson found a flute riff in "Down Under" bore an unmistakable resemblance to "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree," a folk tune taught to Australian schoolchildren for 75 years.
Music company Larrikin, which in 1990 acquired the rights to "Kookaburra" -- penned by teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides Jamboree in 1935 -- stand to gain royalties and compensation for the worldwide hit.
"I have come to the view that the flute riff in Down Under in the 1979 recording and 1981 recording infringes on the copyright of Kookaburra, because it replicates in material form a substantial part of Ms. Sinclair's 1935 work," Jacobson ruled on Thursday.
The judge said Larrikin was entitled to an as-yet-undetermined amount of unpaid royalties and compensation from both Men at Work and music labels Sony BMG and EMI.
"Down Under," an unofficial Australian anthem and jukebox staple worldwide, was also the theme tune for the victorious 1983 Australian team in yachting's Americas Cup.
