One of the world’s biggest rock’n’roll bands, the Dave Grohl-led Foo Fighters, have launched legal proceedings against a Brisbane-based advertising firm, Re/Max Australia (as well as its parent company in the USA), for using a famous riff from their hit song “Learn To Fly” without their permission.

According to an article in today’s edition of Victorian newspaper The Age, the issue was raised thanks to a fan of the band, who posted a message on the “Best Of You” outfit’s website, asking if the group had given their permission for the riff to be used.

Turns out members Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel and Taylor Hawkins – the track’s credited songwriters – didn’t give the okay. They filed papers with the Australian Federal Court this week, alleging that the company produced two advertisements, which appeared both on Queensland television and the firm’s official YouTube channel, incorporating “a musical composition … that reproduces a substantial part’’ of the group’s  1999 hit single. The Foos are now seeking unspecified damages, as well as insisting all copies of the offending advertisements be handed over.

Director of Re/Max, Nicholas Thiele, told The Age he was surprised by the move. ‘‘It’s certainly not the position of this company to intentionally infringe on anyone’s copyright,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve got very strong trademark and copyright issues regarding our own brand that we feel are very important.’’

The Foos are currently working on their seventh studio LP, the follow-up to 2007’s Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.