Unfortunately, Sabam cannot intervene in case of (a suspicion of) plagiarism. Why not? Because we are not allowed to. Sabam only manages your economic rights. We collect copyright royalties for u from the users of your works and we distribute these royalties to you.

When is there plagiarism?

If a work is similar to one of your works, there may be plagiarism. This is a violation of your moral right. And only the author is allowed to exercise this right, meaning only you can decide whether or not to contact the other party or to initiate legal proceedings. And only courts and tribunals have jurisdiction to decide whether or not plagiarism has occurred. Sabam must therefore always adopt a neutral position in disputes between rightholders.

What can Sabam do to help?

What we can do, is set up a committee of experts/authors, whom we carefully select based on the genre in which they specialise. We will then ask you for the necessary documentation in order to be able to carry out an analysis of both works.

The fixed cost for this is € 1,500. This is the actual cost of the analysis provided and far below the market price.

Your expertise report

The committee conducts a comparative study of both works based on the scores and sound recordings. It carefully compares keys, melody, bass lines, tempo, distance between the notes and other factors. The committee makes no statement about the plagiarism itself.

The committee then draws up a technical report, in which both the differences and similarities between the two works are listed. Based on this report, the committee comes to a conclusion.

And after that?

We provide you with the expertise report. With this you can decide whether or not to take further steps. If you decide to do so, Sabam will provide the other party with a copy of the expertise report. Please note, however, that the court may choose to have an independent analysis carried out between the two works, irrespective of Sabam’s expertise report.

Pending an agreement between both parties or a court ruling, you can ask Sabam to block the copyright royalties of the work in question. This decision can only be taken by our board of directors. The royalties are then blocked for up to one year, or until a court ruling is made.