But according to the US Copyright Office,  "There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances."

So the original songwriter can decide whether his work is plagiarized. He has the right to decide how much can be taken from his work or how much of the original can be altered.

 

Under Korean copyright law, a claim for plagiarism and copyright infringement is established when the defendant had access to the copyrighted work of the plaintiff and there exists a substantial similarity between the two works.  With regard to the first element, the access does not mean an actual access.  Rather, just a reasonable possibility of access is sufficient to meet that element.  In similar cases, Korean courts have presumed and acknowledged the accessibility in a situation where the plaintiff’s song was publicly available and widely disseminated.  The next element, a substantial similarity is quite difficult to establish.  Korean courts have set the basic rule that, when deciding the substantial similarity in musical compositions, the court should consider every component of the song with special emphasis on the melody part and this comparison shall be done on both quantitative and qualitative levels and reviewed by the perspective of ordinary observers.

 

Source: Seoul Court Ruled Jin-Young Park, Famous Korean Song Writer and Producer Is Guilty of Plagiarism - Korean Copyright Law on Music Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement.

 

TS, "We are aware of there being talks about the similarities between the two songs. The song was not plagiarized and we don't feel that it was worth responding to so we never released a statement on the issue. It is the same for 'No Mercy'. If people consider this plagiarism, then A Pink's 'No No No' and S.E.S. should be plagiarism as well. There are a lot of similar songs these days. We feel that these accusations are coming from Shinhwa's fandom."

Shinhwa Company, "We are aware of there being talks about the similarities between the two songs. However, Shinhwa is currently on break after their Asia tour so we will have to check in on the matter with them."

Source: Netizenbuzz

Let's wait until Shinhwa's vacation is over, okay, TS Ent? Don't cause any more trouble for BAP. You should have ended by the second sentence. 

-Keeper

/I can't believe I am researching on copyright once again LOL As if that post wasn't enough OTL

I am not a lawyer, I merely presented what I've read and my statement is purely based on the JYP case. Note that I am not claiming anything. I am merely trying to understand how SK handles music plagiarism. Don't go mental on me. I would never wish harm on the boys. It's their company's fault.