As has been seen on several occasions, music is a particularly complex area of law for solicitors, because there are so many grey areas when it comes to the difference between inspiration and plagiarism.

One of the most unusual cases in this regard requires the defendant in the case to sing to the courtroom to prove that their song was not infringing the intellectual property of someone else.

In 1991, singer-songwriter Crystal Cartier copyrighted the song Dangerous from her album Hello World, a high-energy song about a dangerous lover that was originally part of a song known as Player in 1988 before becoming its own song in late 1990.

In late 1991, Michael Jackson released the album Dangerous, the title track of which was set to be the tenth single of the album but was cancelled due to unrelated legal actions against the recording artist.

However, in 1994, Ms Cartier sued Mr Jackson, claiming that he knowingly plagiarised her song which she claimed was recorded in 1985, although she could not provide evidence of this upon request by the court.

By contrast, Michael Jackson claimed it was created from an original demo called Streetwalker, originally recorded in 1985 before being highly modified and becoming Dangerous in 1991. 

This demo was played in court before Mr Jackson performed a cappella renditions of both Dangerous and Billie Jean. This corroborates with other accounts as to how Mr Jackson, who could not read sheet music, composed music. 

The point was not just to prove that MJ was a great singer but that this was his recorded method of composing. Accounts of his alleged involvement in the video game Sonic 3 claim that he recorded demos of the music in a similar way before withdrawing from the project.

By contrast, Ms Cartier could not provide proof she had recorded the song first, let alone that Mr Jackson had heard the song first, forcing the court to dismiss the case.