[78-L] Kookaburra lawsuit

[Cary Ginell]

Not really. There were no royalties involved in the free singing of a song in a schoolroom. Nobody got paid when the song was sung in your school, and I would doubt that printed copies of the lyrics were handed out to kids, either, which is what would have brought this to the attention of the copyright owners. The song "Kookaburra," like others ("I'm a Little Teapot," "Happy Birthday to You," and "Little Drummer Boy" are great examples), is a classic example of a copyright song that has become so pervasive, people think it's a folk song, and thus, in the public domain. But it's only when money is involved that corporate lawyers perk up their ears and smell green. "Down Under" is, next to "Waltzing Matilda," an incredibly pervasive song in Australia, considered to be an unofficial anthem. I'm sure that the attorney who was alerted to this is getting a handsome raise at his firm right now for uncovering this.

It all brings up the PBS special that Steve told us about a few weeks ago, "Copyright Criminals," in which indignant hip-hop composers and DJs protested the restriction of their "First Amendment creative rights" by the copyright laws, that prevent them from legally using copyrighted compositions in mash-ups. There is fair use and there is plagiarism, but this case could trigger a chain reaction of lawsuits from other emboldened/greedy copyright owners.

Cary Ginell

> Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2010 10:35:34 -0500
> From: dlennick at sympatico.ca
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Kookaburra lawsuit
> 
> We sang it in public school..guess they better go after the North York Bored of 
> Education for all those back royalties!
> 
> dl
> 
> Cary Ginell wrote:
> > Moral: Never assume a song is in the public domain. This is liable to cost the writers of "Down Under" millions.
> > 
> > http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/04/down.under.kookaburra/index.html?eref=rss_world&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_world+%28RSS%3A+World%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
> > 
> > To keep this on topic, was "Kookaburra" ever issued on a 78?
> > 
> > Cary Ginell
> >  		 	   		  
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