Aussie legal battle hits sour note Down UnderOne of Australia's most famous schoolyard songs and a rock tune widely accepted as the nation's unofficial anthem are at the centre of a bitter legal battle over a flute riff. Music company Larrikin lar·ri·kin n. Australian A person given to comical or outlandish behavior. [Origin unknown. is suing iconic band Men at Work in the Federal Court for allegedly ripping off a section of "Kookaburra kookaburra (k  k`əbûr'ə), common name for a squat, long-tailed Australian kingfisher, Dacelo navaguinae. Sits in the Old Gum Tree" in the flute solo of their song "Down Under", local media reported Thursday.
The song was a worldwide hit when it was first released in the early 1980s, becoming the unofficial anthem of the Australian team that won the Americas Cup in 1983. It also featured in the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. It pays tribute to Vegemite sandwiches and a land where "women glow and men plunder TO PLUNDER. The capture of personal property on land by a public enemy, with a view of making it his own. The property so captured is called plunder. See Booty; Prize. ", and is a jukebox favourite in drinking establishments across the nation. Larrikin claims Men at Work directly lifted part of its distinctive flute section from Kookaburra's score, the rights to which Larrikin allegedly acquired in 1990. The children's ditty dit·ty n. pl. dit·ties A simple song. [Middle English dite, a literary composition, from Old French dite, from Latin dict was penned by teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides Jamboree in 1934. Larrikin is suing Men at Work's Colin Hay and Ron Strykert and labels Sony BMG and EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference) An electrical disturbance in a system due to natural phenomena, low-frequency waves from electromechanical devices or high-frequency waves (RFI) from chips and other electronic devices. Allowable limits are governed by the FCC. for breach of copyright and unpaid royalties. Defence lawyers argue that the copyright was never properly signed over by Sinclair and still belongs to the Girl Guides movement, not Larrikin. According to widely-publicised court documents, they also deny the Down Under work "incorporates the whole or any substantial part of the Kookaburra work", and accuse Larrikin of misleading or deceptive conduct Misleading or deceptive conduct (often referred to as just misleading conduct) is a doctrine of Australian law. Section 52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 prohibits conduct by corporations in trade or commerce which is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead . 
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