Australian Man Claims “Alabama Ripped Off my Song ‘On the Inside’” [AUDIO] [POLL]

An Australian song writer claims Alabama ripped off one of his songs. The song in question? "Christmas in Dixie."

Allan Caswell wrote the song "On The Inside." It was a hit in Australia and the U.K. back in 1979 and is now being used as the theme song to a popular T.V. show down under. Caswell is suing his publishing company for failing to collect royalties.

"It's not a plagiarism lawsuit -- it's about getting my publishing company (Sony) to do their job," Mr. Caswell said.
"I'm saying I wrote it first, they used some of it in their song and now I want to be compensated for it," he said.
According to his statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court, Caswell said Sony had the responsibility to collect "all income, royalties and fees" for the use of his work worldwide since 1997. Sony had an expert examine the two songs in 2004, the document said. The expert concluded the two pieces of music "shared a level of similarity that went beyond what he would consider to be a random occurrence of sheer coincidence", the document said.
Sony said it would defend the claim.

Listen to both songs then tell us what you think!