# How can music be scrutinized for plagiarism?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-music-be-scrutinized-for-plagiarism/519557>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 1, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-music-be-scrutinized-for-plagiarism/519557 "2009-12-01T04:11:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-music-be-scrutinized-for-plagiarism/519557/21 "2009-12-03T01:34:56Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Indeed, this is a more attenuated case of reasonable access and subconscious copying than ABKCO. In this case, the appellants never admitted hearing the Isley Brothers’ “Love is a Wonderful Thing.” That **song never topped the Billboard charts or even made the top 100 for a single week**. The song was **not released on an album or compact disc until 1991, a year after Bolton and Goldmark wrote their song.** Nor did the Isley Brothers ever claim that Bolton’s and Goldmark’s song is so “strikingly similar” to the Isley Brothers’ that proof of access is presumed and need not be proven.
> 
> Despite the weaknesses of the Isley Brothers’ theory of reasonable access, the appellants had a full opportunity to present their case to the jury. **Three rhythm and blues experts (including legendary Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier of Holland-Dozier-Holland fame) testified that they never heard of the Isley Brothers’ “Love is a Wonderful Thing.”** Furthermore, \*\*Bolton produced copies of “TV Guide” from 1966 suggesting that the television shows playing the song never aired [\*\*16] in Connecticut. \*\*Bolton also pointed out that 129 songs called “Love is a Wonderful Thing” are registered with the Copyright Office, 85 of them before 1964.
> 
> The Isley Brothers’ reasonable access arguments are not without merit. Teenagers are generally avid music listeners. It is entirely plausible that two Connecticut teenagers obsessed with rhythm and blues music could remember an Isley Brothers’ song that was played on the radio and television for a few weeks, and subconsciously copy it twenty years later. Furthermore, Ronald Isley testified that when they met, Bolton said, “I have all his stuff.” Finally, as the district court pointed out, Bolton’s remark about Marvin Gaye and “Some Kind of Wonderful” indicates that Bolton believed he may have been copying someone else’s song.

_Three Boys_ (Emphasis added.)

Not so far from what you asked about.

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