# Is this the world's most ridiculous copyright lawsuit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 31, 2009, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854 "2009-07-31T07:58:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/1 "2009-07-31T07:58:55Z")
80’s pop band Men At Work are [being sued](http://www.theage.com.au/national/men-at-work-one-step-closer-to-losing-royalties-20090730-e28k.html) for copyright infringement over their 1981 hit “Down Under” If you’re old enough to remember the song, **don’t click the link just yet**. See if you can guess the song they’re accused of ripping off. (Non-Australians might not get this - I don’t know how well known the song is outside of oz) Clue #1 It’s in the riff between verses Clue #2 It’s a 70-year-old kids singalong song Clue #3 Involving a well-known Australian bird If you still can’t get it, don’t worry, it took the copyright holders 26 years. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/2 "2009-07-31T08:15:16Z")
Rest assured that no human outside Australia has any idea WTF a kookaburra is, including me. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/3 "2009-07-31T08:41:54Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Rest assured that no human outside Australia has any idea WTF a kookaburra is, including me. How gay your life must be. 😃 (read the lyrics) ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/4 "2009-07-31T08:45:00Z")
I don’t think I ever saw a kookaburra, much less heard one - as far as I can gather from youtube clips I just watched to find out where in the hell ‘Down Under’ is infringing on someone’s copy right, a kookaburra is a pretty annoying bird. Still, I do distinctly singing the kookaburra song in kindergarten over 20 years ago, and that was in the Netherlands! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/5 "2009-07-31T08:46:36Z")
Yeah, this is even stupider than George Harrison’s “infringement”. Seems to me the whole thing stems from a quick ten step phrase on flute, comprised of 3 notes. Takes place first at about 0:55 in the MaW song, and vaguely resembles part of the phrase that is the Kookaburra song. Totally lame. > [@friedo](#): > > Rest assured that no human outside Australia has any idea WTF a kookaburra is, including me. The kookaburra is a long-billed species of kingfisher native to Australia and known for its loud, laugh-like call. [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kookaburra) I found a link to a midi version of the basic song melody [here](http://alldownunder.com/oz-u/songs/kookaburra-song-9.htm) and youtube has a number of versions posted, including this (incredibly annoying) [one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1fO1je3Oxg). Sorry, folks, but at least the riff is clearly heard, and now you know what a kookaburra sounds like.\* IMO this is lawyerly money-grubbing, about equivalent to chasing an ambulance. I hope that Men At Work’s _Down Under_ comes out on top. \*I wouldn’t know this stuff, but about 20 years ago or so I was trying to find a small record label that had listed itself as being in Kookaburra, Australia. That turned out to be a lark (:D) done by the archivist who had put together a compilation of Australian garage bands from the 60s and 70s, and I eventually tracked them down in Melbourne. Along the way I learned a lot, including what a kookaburra was, what they sound like, and the fact they are one of the sounds played in almost every jungle movie scene ever made. Ah, there’s nothing like a bit of research to get the old synapses snapping, is there? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/6 "2009-07-31T08:46:38Z")
By the way, a Kookuburra is the bird that makes a sound kind of like Fran Drescher’s (in the Nanny) laughter. Edit - Nevermind ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/7 "2009-07-31T08:49:33Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > By the way, a Kookuburra is the bird that makes a sound kind of like Fran Drescher’s (in the Nanny) laughter. > > Edit - Nevermind LOL good analogy ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/8 "2009-07-31T08:52:54Z")
We in the US are familiar with the sound a Kookuburra makes because it’s placed in any movie that has a jungle scene even though the jungles aren’t located in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/9 "2009-07-31T08:59:09Z")
No, I’d say the most ridiculous suit was when [Fantasy Records sued John Fogerty for plagiarizing himself](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_Down_The_Road). ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/10 "2009-07-31T09:15:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > IMO this is lawyerly money-grubbing, about equivalent to chasing an ambulance. I don’t think the plaintiff is a lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/11 "2009-07-31T09:39:10Z")
I wasn’t even born until 1985 and I remember “Down Under” well (I probably didn’t hear it until the early 90s). Definitely never heard of that Australian song though. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/12 "2009-07-31T10:06:21Z")
I’ve heard both songs more times than I could count and never realised the riffs are similar. I can hear it now I know, but I still think it’s ludicrous to call that fragment “infringement”. It’s, what, five notes? Also, [kookaburra laughing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ZbykXlg6Q&feature=related). Love 'em! Got a thrill to see the [albino kookaburra](http://www.thegravenimage.com/gallery2/v/Flora+and+Fauna/Healesville+Sanctuary/IMG_6197-01.JPG.html) at the Healesville Sanctuary when I was a kid, another thrill to see it still there when I visited again 15 years later 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/13 "2009-07-31T10:14:10Z")
We were singing the kookaburra song in school in the 70’s (UK). ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/14 "2009-07-31T10:30:26Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > I’ve heard both songs more times than I could count and never realised the riffs are similar. I can hear it now I know, but I still think it’s ludicrous to call that fragment “infringement”. It’s, what, five notes? well, considering some of the notes are repeated it’s up to _eleven_ notes! And it goes twice, so that makes _twenty-two_ notes! :eek: Hang 'em high! ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/15 "2009-07-31T10:55:30Z")
Well, it’s not an earworm, but I knew it. But I had an Australian nanny when I was knee-high. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/16 "2009-07-31T11:32:50Z")
This was actually my earworm last week. And I couldn’t remember half the words. Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree Something something something he Laugh, kookaburra laugh Something something something else. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/17 "2009-07-31T11:46:47Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > We were singing the kookaburra song in school in the 70’s (UK). I did too, and it’s brought back memories of the smell of Plasticene. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/18 "2009-07-31T12:19:29Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > This was actually my earworm last week. And I couldn’t remember half the words. Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree **Merry, merry king of the bush is** he Laugh, kookaburra laugh **Kookaburra, gay your life must be**. Alternatively Kookaburra sits on the electric wire Jumping up and down with his pants on fire Ouch! Kookaburra, ouch! Kookaburra, burnt your bum must be. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/19 "2009-07-31T12:32:56Z")
Kookaburra sits in the old gumtree Eating all the gumnuts he can see Stop! kookaburra, Stop, kookaburra Leave some there for me! Who do I owe money to for that? ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/20 "2009-07-31T13:00:44Z")
How stupid. You know, I had learned the kookaburra song in grade school (Southern US), and of course, loved Down Under in the 80’s, but until I read the spoiler boxes, I never even THOUGHT about them sounding alike. This is, at best, a stretch, and at worst, money-grubbing. It kinda reminds me of Spike Lee suing Spike TV. Until he did that, the channel name hadn’t even brought the man to mind. Only AFTER the lawsuit did I think of him when I heard anything about the channel. I’ve often thought it very possible that he did that deliberately. “NOW anytime Spike TV is mentioned, they’ll automatically think of ME!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854.md?page=2)