Top 10 Songs Sued for Plagiarism

Down Under

The children’s song, “Kookaburra” was composed way back in 1932 by music teacher, Marion Sinclair, in Melbourne, Australia. The song became well known throughout the world, especially in the U.S. Sinclair died in 1988 but the publishing rights are held by Larrikin Music and in the U.S., administered by Music Sales Corporation.

Larrikin Music sued Men At Work for copyright infringement in 2009, because the flute riff in the band’s 1981 song, “Down Under” was directly copied from “Kookaburra”. It was determined in 2010 that Men At Work had infringed on Larrikin’s copyright and awarded 5% royalties, backdated to 2002.