The purpose of this project is to capitalize on the distributed nature of digital information systems to collect, organize, distribute, and comment on, texts, and graphic and audio materials associated with music copyright infringement cases in the United States from the middle of the nineteenth century on. This documentation, especially for cases over twenty-five years old, is difficult to obtain and has never before been systematically collected or published in print or electronic format. Our goal is to accumulate and publish a complete collection of music copyright infringement opinions, comments about the musical works they consider, and graphic and sound files of relevant portions of these works.

Plagiarism per se is not grounds for a tort claim; one sues for copyright infringement based on an alleged plagiarism. While many instances of plagiarism are not actionable under copyright law, we used this term in the title of an earlier version of this site because it has long been associated with the broad notions of wrongful appropriation and publication as one's own of another's expression that are at the heart of these music copyright disputes. The new website title "Music Copyright Infringement Project" reflects the broadening scope of the project under the auspices of UCLA Law School.

This is a work-in-progress; we gladly welcome readers' contributions of comments, corrections and documents.