Australian rock band Men at Work have lost their final court bid to prove they did not steal the distinctive flute riff for their defining 1980s hit Down Under from a children’s campfire song.

The High Court of Australia denied the band’s bid to appeal against a federal court judge’s earlier ruling that the group had copied the signature flute melody of Down Under from the song Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree.

Kookaburra, a song about Australia’s famous bird of the same name, was written more than 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition. The song went on to become a favourite around campfires from New Zealand to Canada. The worldwide hit Down Under remains an unofficial anthem for Australia.

Ms Sinclair died in 1988, but publishing company Larrikin Music – which holds the copyright for Kookaburra – filed a copyright lawsuit in 2009. Last year, Federal Court Justice Peter Jacobson ruled that the Down Under flute riff replicated a substantial part of Ms Sinclair’s song. The judge later ordered Men at Work’s recording company, EMI Songs Australia, and Down Under songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, to pay five per cent of royalties earned from the song since 2002 and from its future earnings.

The court didn’t specify what the five per cent penalty translates to in dollars. Larrikin wasn’t able to seek royalties earned before 2002 because of a statute of limitations.

Lawyers for Men at Work’s recording companies maintained the band had not copied anything, and vowed to fight the ruling, but the decision from the High Court ends the band’s chance to appeal.

“Larrikin welcomes the decision and looks forward to resolving the remaining issues between the parties,” Adam Simpson, a lawyer for Larrikin, said in an e-mail.

Mark Bamford, a lawyer for EMI, called the High Court’s decision disappointing.