Aussie songwriting duo Harry Vanda and George Young are suing a US pop duo for allegedly ripping off ‘Love Is In The Air’ performed by John Paul Young for a song used in a French airline commercial.
As Fairfax report, Vanda-Young filed the case in the Federal Court just days before Young passed away last year, listing both US band Glass Candy and Societe Air France as defendants in the case.
The song in question, ‘Warm in the Winter’, was used for an Air France advertisement in 2015, ‘France is in the air’.
‘Warm In The Winter’ uses the exact line, “love is in the air,” and Vanda-Young have also said that it uses the same melody as ‘Love Is In The Air’.
‘Love Is In The Air’ was released in 1977 and was prominently featured in Baz Luhrmann’s 1992 film Strictly Ballroom. Vanda and Young were both members of iconic Aussie band the Easybeats.
The Glass Candy song was released back in 2011 but hit the peak of its popularity when it was featured in the Air France advertisement. It was also featured in their safety videos.
On Friday, Justice Nye Perram ruled that the Aussie songwriters had a case against Glass Candy, the song’s writers Johnny Jewel and Lori Monahan and Air France. Jewel is most notably known as a member of the US band Chromatics.
Perram listened to both songs and decided that doing so “arguably supports” Vanda-Young’s claims.
Glass Candy and Air France are yet to respond to the lawsuit.
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