In judicial cases, to determine whether a musical work constitutes plagiarism, the court will usually adopt the principle of "contact plus substantial similarity" to examine:

(1) Whether the defendant has had the opportunity to have access to it Plaintiff's work.

(2) Whether the plaintiff’s work is substantially similar to the defendant’s work.

The judge will not judge on his own whether the works of the original defendant and the defendant are substantially similar, but will entrust professional organizations (such as the Copyright Appraisal Professional Committee of the China Copyright Research Association and the China Music Copyright Association) to conduct appraisals.

Legal Basis

According to Article 47 of the Copyright Law, those who commit the following infringements shall, according to the circumstances, bear civil obligations such as stopping the infringement, eliminating the impact, making an apology, and compensating for losses. Responsibility:

(1) Publishing the work without the permission of the copyright owner.

(2) Publish a work created in collaboration with others as a work created alone without the permission of the co-author.

(3) Signing others’ works for the purpose of seeking personal fame and fortune without participating in the creation.

(4) Distorting or tampering with other people’s works.

(5) Plagiarizing other people’s works, etc.