RECORD LABEL BOSSES APPEAL MEN AT WORK RULING
Bosses at record label EMI have lodged an appeal against a court decision= which ruled Australian rockers MEN AT WORK illegally sampled a popular c= hildren’s tune in their 1980s hit DOWN UNDER.
Bosses at Larrikin music publishers in Sydney filed suit, claiming the = flute solo on the track sampled parts of Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum T= ree, a song written by an Australian music teacher for the Girl Guides in= 1934.
Bosses at EMI and Sony BMG denied the claim but a Federal Court in Sydn= ey ruled against them - ordering the companies to pay compensation, which= could amount to up to 60 per cent of the song’s income.
Now record chiefs are attempting to have the ruling overturned - they f= iled an appeal at the Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday (25Feb10).
EMI bosses claim the trial judge failed to sufficiently acknowledge tha= t the alleged similarities between the two songs had gone unnoticed for m= any years, and alleged the copyright had not been properly assigned to th= e Girl Guides Association of Victoria in 1934.
A court date has yet to be fixed for the appeal to be heard. (LR/AAP/ZN=
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