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Nearly 30 yrs later, Men At Work guilty of plagiarism!?!

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Nearly 30 yrs later, Men At Work guilty of plagiarism!?!

Old 02-06-10, 06:54 PM
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Re: Nearly 30 yrs later, Men At Work guilty of plagiarism!?!

Originally Posted by UAIOE
How do you sue someone over a song, that you bought the rights to years *after* they wrote it?
With copyrights, it doesn't matter when the current copyright owner came into possession of it, only when it was originally copyrighted.
Old 02-06-10, 07:12 PM
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Re: Nearly 30 yrs later, Men At Work guilty of plagiarism!?!

Originally Posted by porieux
^That preview doesn't work for me, but I doubt it's just one acoustic guitar and a vocal if it has that part represented.
True, a flute is used to play that part.

However, I was using those versions to illustrate that the songwriter, when re-recording the song twice, considered that part of the arrangement to be important enough to keep it in both versions.

However, I do agree that while it's part of the arrangement, it's not part of the "written" song. Here's an accoustic guitar/vocal version to prove your assertion:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ikrmUq1EudE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ikrmUq1EudE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikrmUq1EudE


I also did find one of the solo albums version on Youtube, with some odd video montage over it:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/q9iWO3KcUJ0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/q9iWO3KcUJ0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9iWO3KcUJ0
Old 02-07-10, 02:18 AM
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Re: Nearly 30 yrs later, Men At Work guilty of plagiarism!?!

Originally Posted by Jay G.
With copyrights, it doesn't matter when the current copyright owner came into possession of it, only when it was originally copyrighted.
I can understand the concept of "owning" something someone else created, but this current scenario defies logic.
Old 02-07-10, 12:11 PM
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Re: Nearly 30 yrs later, Men At Work guilty of plagiarism!?!

someone told me the dumbasses who owned the kookaburra song didn't even realize until the connection was mentioned on the music game show "spicks and specks" there. I bet Men at Work are wishing it never was!
Old 02-08-10, 04:10 AM
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Re: Nearly 30 yrs later, Men At Work guilty of plagiarism!?!

There's a bit of guitar work in the Dio Sabbath song "Lady Evil" that knowingly/jokingly borrows from eternal popster Cliff Richard's "Devil Woman".

I bet Tony Iommi is quaking in his boots!
Old 02-08-10, 12:04 PM
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Re: Nearly 30 yrs later, Men At Work guilty of plagiarism!?!

Originally Posted by Groucho
"Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree" is a well-known song associated with Australia, and it's obvious to me it's usage was intentional. No doubt they used it thinking it was in the public domain and they were safe from being sued.

What's ridiculous is that the people suing had nothing to do with the writer of the song. It's not even her family. It's some corporation that bought the rights.
Originally Posted by Graftenberg
"Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree" is a well-known song associated with Australia, and it's obvious to me it's usage was intentional. No doubt they used it thinking it was in the public domain and they were safe from being sued.

What's ridiculous is that the people suing had nothing to do with the writer of the song. It's not even her family. It's some corporation that bought the rights.
Needs to contact an admin regarding multiple accounts.
Old 02-09-10, 03:33 AM
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TANGENT: another example of innocent/minor musical "borrowing"

Originally Posted by Lemmy
Do you have any idea what part of "Lady Evil" that's in? I'm anxious to check it out.
For the benefit of interested parties, I'll dig out the CD and post here* the time that the 3-4 second "borrow" starts. If I recall correctly, the guitar work reflects the part of the tune/vocal melody from when Sir Cliff sings "She's just a devil woman. With evil on her mind".

*EDIT: it kicks in for about four seconds from 2:57ish.

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