Men At Work have been ordered to pay 5 per cent of royalties for plagiarising part of their 1980s hit Down Under.

In February the Federal Court ruled the iconic Aussie band plagiarised part of the song, which was penned in 1979 but only achieved worldwide success after a flute riff was introduced to the track two years later.

Larrikin Music said the band stole the riff from the children's song Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree.

Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree was written by Melbourne teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides jamboree in 1934 and has been sung by generations of Australian children ever since.

Larrikin owns the rights to the song and had been seeking up to 60 per cent of Down Under's profits as compensation.

The Federal Court was told that Men At Work's Business As Usual album, on which the song appears, had achieved huge commercial success both in Australia and overseas.

Today Justice Peter Jacobsen described Larrikin's compensation request as "excessive, over-reaching and unrealistic".

"Although the quotation from Kookaburra in the 1981 recording is - in my view - sufficient to constitute an infringement of copyright, other factors are to be taken into account in assessing the percentage interest payable in a hypothetical licensing bargain," he said.

Justice Jacobsen ordered Men At Work frontman Colin Hay, fellow songwriter Ron Strykert and EMI to pay Larrikin 5 per cent of future profits, as well as royalties dating back to 2002.

The songwriters were not in court for the judgement.