Eurovision: Australian entry 'does not break rules'

Australia's Eurovision song is performed by Korean-Australian singer Dami Im

Australia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest has been cleared of breaching rules on product placement.

Dami Im's song, Sound Of Silence, features the lyric "trying to feel your love through face time," which some have interpreted as a reference to Apple's video-chat service FaceTime.

Eurovision rules prohibit "messages promoting any political cause, company, brand, products or services".

But organisers say the lyrics do not make specific reference to Apple's app.

"The lyrics of the Australian song are presented as two separate words, 'face time' and not FaceTime which is an Apple trademark," said the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group, which rules on such disputes.

"The Merriam-Webster dictionary refers to 'face time' as 'time spent meeting with someone'... so in this case the song lyrics have been cleared."

New lyrics

In previous years, entrants have been forced to rewrite songs which fell foul of the Eurovision rulebook.

San Marino's 2012 entry, Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh (A Satirical Song) was renamed The Social Network Song (Oh Oh Uh Oh Oh) after organisers intervened.

And in 2005, Ukraine had to rewrite the lyrics to Razom Nas Bagato!, which had become the anthem of the country's "orange revolution" a year earlier.

The song, whose title translated as Together We Are Many!, included such phrases as "Yushchenko - yes! Yushchenko - yes! This is our president - yes, yes!"

Dami Im, a former winner of X Factor Australia, will perform her song at the second Eurovision semi-final on 12 May in Stockholm.

The country was first admitted to the contest last year as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, with Guy Sebastian eventually taking fifth place.

Eurovision says Australia's continued involvement is an "exciting step" towards making the contest "a truly global event".

The UK will be represented by pop duo Joe and Jake, both of whom appeared on last year's series of The Voice UK.

Their track, You're Not Alone, is considered an outsider to win the contest - with odds of 50/1 at bookmakers William Hill and Paddy Power.

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