The Big Question

The big question is why now? Shirley Down Under is about 25 years old. It's not like anybody could claim not to have heard it back when it was in the charts, it was everywhere over here I can only imagine that it was played with even more irritating frequency in Australia. There really ought to be some sort of time limit on claims like these. Five years should be plenty.

To be honest I think composer's copyright is ridiculously long (in the UK isn't it something like life plus 70 years?). I don't see why it should last any longer than a patent.

Having heard the two back to back and seen them both transcribed to my humble musical ear there are similarities, but they are not the same tune. Having some similarities is surely not enough to constitute breach of copyright?