Merry merry king of the bush prevails in copyright suit

Earlier this month, the Chronicle reported that an Australian court ruled that 80's pop band Men at Work lifted a portion of the melody from classic Australian folk song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree" in their hit "Down Under."

A judged ruled that the band used a significant portion of the song for the "flute riff" (one doesn't often see those two words together except for references to Jethro Tull) in the 1983 hit. The song was a big hit for the band and has been used in countless commercials and movie soundtracks.

The songwriters will appear in court again next week to work out how much they'll have to pay the publishing company that owns the song.