# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/41 "2009-07-31T21:43:54Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > 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. And they don’t really live in jungles either, but in eucalyptus forest and woodland. Another popular “jungle sound effect” bird is the [Screaming Piha](http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/play/port_lofi.cfm/sound_iid.34019), but this one actually lives in the Amazonian jungle. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/42 "2009-07-31T21:53:01Z")
Huh. I always assumed it was intentional, just like the “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” riff right toward the end of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/43 "2009-08-01T14:36:05Z")
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree Eating all the gumdrops he can see Stop, kookaburra! Stop, kookaburra! Save some there for me. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/44 "2009-08-01T15:17:50Z")
I recognized it, having sung the Kookabura song in elementary school, and assumed that it was in the public domain. I know my elementary school didn’t pay the Australian Girl Guides when we sang it. Why wasn’t there a law suit in the 20th century? To my mind it’s clearly an homage and not a rip off. DId anyone sue Neil Diamond when he included a snippet of “My Country 'Tis of Thee”? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/45 "2009-08-01T15:58:56Z")
Do rights on music last forever, then? I thought there’d be a limit, like with books. That song is so old that everyone probably thought it was just a public domain nursery rhyme. I bet the writer wouldn’t be happy with this lawsuit. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/46 "2009-08-01T16:09:42Z")
We used to sing it in school, back in the 50s. And we weren’t even Australian. Our version went: _Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree; Merry, merry king of the jungle, he. Laugh, kookaburra, laugh, kookaburra, Gay your life must be._ We sang it as a “round.” I’m amazed I still remember this, after 50-something years. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/47 "2009-08-01T21:53:29Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Do rights on music last forever, then? I thought there’d be a limit, like with books. That song is so old that everyone probably thought it was just a public domain nursery rhyme. I bet the writer wouldn’t be happy with this lawsuit. It dates from 1932. “Happy Birthday to You” is from 1935 and Warner Music Group claims (dubiously) that the copyright for that 2030. (Insert boring discussion about works-for-hire vs. death of author+70 years here.) In the U.S., every few years Yet Another Copyright Extension law gets passed. Since Western countries try to align their copyright laws to some extent, yep, basically assume that the copyright is forever. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/48 "2009-08-01T23:54:14Z")
Even if the song is still under copyright, isn’t there any statute of limitations on infringement? I could see suing over a new song (not that I wouldn’t think it was silly and frivolous in a case like this, but whatever) but over one from 1981? In 2009? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/49 "2009-08-02T00:11:11Z")
We learned that song in either music class or Girl Scouts (or camp–can’t remember which) in the 1970s, Midwest. Knew it was Australian; knew it was a bird. Never heard it in the Down Under song (one of my favs from the 80s). I think we also learned Waltzing Matilda–a song which has dubious appeal, but a damned good hook. IOW, an earworm of great magnitude. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/50 "2009-08-02T01:02:55Z")
And yet Kid Rock gets away with [his rip off of Werewolfs of London](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5g6kj_kid-rock-all-summer-long-music-vide_music). ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/51 "2009-08-02T16:20:46Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Rest assured that no human outside Australia has any idea WTF a kookaburra is, including me. I’m sitting here in the center of the United States, and I immediately got the song from clue 2. In grade school we used to sing that song in music class (also Waltzing Matilda, BTW). I also had a jigsaw puzzle that was in the shape of Australia (with extra pieces for Tasmania!) which had a picture of a Kookaburra. And whattaya know, it came up on the daily Merriam-Webster trivia game just last week. I can’t say I ever connected the riff in Down Under to that little ditty though. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/52 "2009-08-02T16:24:54Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > We used to sing it at Brownies in the early to mid eighties, and I remember the Men at Work song very clearly too. It used to be on BFBS (the British Forces Broadcasting Service) all the time. I learnt both songs at about the same time. I never caught any kind of similarity between them. > > However, you’ve all missed out a verse. > > Kookaburra sits on the railway track > Along comes a train and squashes him flat > Splat, kookaburra, splat, kookaburra. > That’s the end of that, ha ha. > > (We always sang the “ha ha”. Children are sick.) I don’t recall that verse. When you sang the “ha ha” did you sound like Nelson on The Simpsons? ---
**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:** [August 2, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/53 "2009-08-02T16:51:53Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree > **Merry, merry king of the bush is** he > Laugh, kookaburra laugh > **Kookaburra, gay your life must be**. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/54 "2009-08-02T21:02:45Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > [holy shit!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc_-icFHwQo&feature=fvw) > This is about the most annoying bird I have heard in a LONG time … > > if one was sitting outside my window doing that for long, the shotgun would be coming out ASAP! Each to his own, i guess. When i was a kid, we used to love sitting out the back of the house and listening to the kookaburras in the evening. I still love hearing them whenever i make a trip home to Australia. They’re usually a lot further away than in that film clip, and the noise obviously isn’t as loud and immediate. I think it sounds great. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/55 "2009-08-02T22:02:45Z")
My niece used to have a Barney video where the kids sang the Kookaburra song. That was the first thing I thought about as soon as I read this thread, before I even got to any posts with the lyrics. I remember the flute part without having to listen to the song again, and when I think about it, it does sound rather like the Kookaburra song, which I thought was a traditional Australian children’s song, not worth suing over. It’s not like they’re going to get that much from Men at Work if they win, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/56 "2009-08-02T23:26:27Z")
[The video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNT7uZf7lew) The 12 note sequence can be heard at 0:54. The flute player is definitely sitting in a tree of some sort. Can anyone identify the type? I’m not sure if it’s a gum tree or not. The only type of tree I can identify is the larch, the larch. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/57 "2009-08-03T01:40:10Z")
Almost certainly not a gum, more likely a mangrove given that he seems to be on a branch above water. But given that the branch he’s sitting on begins and ends off screen so that you can’t see trunk or leaves, it’s pretty much impossible to identify the tree positively. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/58 "2009-08-03T01:45:24Z")
[Original “Down Under” song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNT7uZf7lew) with flute riff [Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQU7_uT4I_M&feature=related) [Comparison](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCyB2l5wqLE&feature=related) IMO that’s a bit of a stretch. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/59 "2009-08-03T01:58:27Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Do rights on music last forever, then? I thought there’d be a limit, like with books. That song is so old that everyone probably thought it was just a public domain nursery rhyme. I bet the writer wouldn’t be happy with this lawsuit. She died in 1988 - _Down Under_ dates from 1981. I don’t know if that means she - never heard the song, or anything about Men at Work, being an old codger by that time - didn’t want to assert copyright, or didn’t care - didn’t realize it would even be possible to do so (or some combination of the above) Copyright in Australia is, I believe, death+70 years (which is ridiculous enough in itself, but don’t get me started). I have no idea if, legally, there is a statute of limitations on how soon you have to bring a lawsuit against infringements, but if there isn’t there certainly _ought_ to be. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854/60 "2009-08-03T02:19:53Z")
> [@astro](#): > > IMO that’s a bit of a stretch. I disagree. I think it’s recognizably the same tune. But that’s not bad in itself. Many great works contain brief quotes from earlier works by other composers. I’ll leave it to the lawyers to argue the technical legality of it. And to musicians to argue the artistic merits. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-worlds-most-ridiculous-copyright-lawsuit/504854.md?page=4)