jjakjjak⑰

sleep mode; mostly Seventeen | random screams

svt2030

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

📚

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@lianlianfafa you just reminded me of it 😂😂

[Moon the 역전재판 @Moonismean]

Do you all remember how I was saying I won't talk about it anymore? Yeah, so I lied.

Cause I actually looked up real court cases and also wanted to talk about that Chinese producer's analysis properly.

So here is my defense case hjhjhj

The MIDI & Music Theory Breakdown

The DAW pitch overlay comparing the choruses of "Micheo Micheo" and "HANDO-CHOGUA" does show some shared scale-degree patterns which is completely standard for the genre.

BUT the tracks are literally in different keys C\#m vs Dm,
different tempos (75 vs 70 BPM),
and have entirely different chord progressions:

Micheo Micheo:C\#m--F\#m--B--E--G\#

HANDO-CHOGUA:Dm--C--F--Gm--A

Both tracks lean into classic trot/semi-trot tropes built on the Yonanuki pentatonic scale a 5-note scale (no 4th or 7th degrees) that basically rules Korean trot and Japanese enka.

Ethnomusicologist Christine Yano actually found that 27 out of 28 enka melodies she analyzed used this exact scale.

When two songs share a sub-genre, a fast tempo, and a tiny pool of just 5 notes, having some melodic overlap isn't plagiarism it’s basic math.

But isn't overlap still a lot though?

Here's the thing: courts don't just calculate a "raw overlap percentage" to decide copyright infringement. That's not how music law works. Three major US court rulings make this super clear:

Gray v. Hudson (9th Cir. 2022) — Katy Perry’s "Dark Horse" case: The court found that even though the disputed repeat pattern shared minor scale notes and a similar rhythm, basic minor scales and common chord progressions belong to the public domain. Sharing them isn't infringement.

Structured Asset Sales v. Sheeran (2d Cir. 2024) — Ed Sheeran’s "Thinking Out Loud" case: The court used a "numerosity" test since that specific 4-chord progression had already appeared in at least 8 older songs, no single artist could claim ownership over it. Sheeran won.

Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin (9th Cir. 2020) — The "Stairway to Heaven" case:Even with five separate overlapping musical elements, the jury ruled NO infringement because those elements were just standard, unoriginal musical building blocks, not a unique original creation.

Korean Precedent: Johnny Only v. Pinkfong Co. (Korean Supreme Court, Aug 2025) — the court dismissed a plagiarism claim over "Baby Shark," ruling that basing a song on a pre-existing/public-domain folk melody doesn't grant exclusive ownership over that shared source material, and found no substantial similarity between the two derivative versions.

The Takeaway

The pattern across all these cases is simple: courts look for specific creative expression, not just shared building blocks. A shared scale, standard genre tropes, and common chord structures belong to everyone.

The exact same logic applies to pentatonic trot overlap in different keys. You can't copyright a 100-year-old 5-note scale.

Sources for anyone who actually wants to read:

1. Gray v. Hudson, 28 F.4th 87 (9th Cir. 2022) — https://t.co/S5s6eqmAUE

2. Structured Asset Sales, LLC v. Sheeran, 120 F.4th 1066 (2d Cir. 2024)

3. Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin, 952 F.3d 1051 (9th Cir. 2020) — https://t.co/tM7cJ6w7Lj

4. Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment Law Blog, "The Fine Line Between Inspiration and Infringement" (Mar 2025)

5. Christine Yano, *Tears of Longing: Nostalgia and the Nation in Japanese Popular Song* (Harvard University Asia Center, 2002)

6. Wood Law Offices, "Music Copyright: Covers, Samples & Infringement

7. 한국일보 (Hankook Ilbo), "상어가족 저작권 소송 대법원 최종 승소, 핑크퐁 '베이비 샤크' 표절 아냐" — https://t.co/NVG1jQZyPV

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@kchartsmaster https://t.co/hXQWOrDwJF

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@kchartsmaster https://t.co/mldPuaWheL

personally both songs sounds like this. so you cant really say that he plagiagized. the correct word is sampled

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@kchartsmaster https://t.co/tY8vdJ3vYy

some parts of this as well

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

he sounds like he's 30.... oh

[mikay @sweetywonwoo_]

dino talked about the turtles on his phone case

🦦: the turtle? ah, while we were filming, one of the staff members showed it to me and said it’s trending these days. so i thought, ‘let’s not fall behind the trend... i’ll give it a try!’
🦦: then another staff member said, ‘i think it’d be cute if you faced each other’, so that’s why we did it facing each other

this is seriously so cuteeeee

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

finally been under the sun 😭😭

[yuna. @aludraexe]

i wanna say something but never mind.. oh god. woozi looks so big BIG

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@wolftypefuma hoshi dino from svt. they're the ones whom i mostly noticr to always mention about their fathers and their work

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@sounds_of_cheol i'm changing my lock screen. it feels like jh is cheating w/ me and i do not want to be on the recieving end of seungcheol's wrath 🥴

[세븐틴(SEVENTEEN) @pledis_17]

20260717 Happy WONWOO’s Day🐈‍⬛

#Happy_WONWOO_Day
#WONWOO #원우
#SEVENTEEN #세븐틴

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@raposaqescreve 😭😭

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@withhualian they're giving us 100 stab wounds before giving us the real thing with these teasers 🤧

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

yeah.. coups mingyu the8 chugged those glasses down😭

[^≖◡≖^ ੭ @moontomeetyou]

the way you can tell right away who’s not much of a drinker 🐱

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

i've always wondered why they made the lyrics in singasong sound like it but not make it in writing. this is probablyone good reason. or maybe i'm just overthinking it😂

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@kyeom_doong "his eyes softened" jun wonwoo vernon dk in different fonts

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

now im curious what other ls they rated

[࣪ @i02hoshipages]

this person cannot be real like wtf do you mean 5.5??? THATS THE CARATBONG??? THE PRETTIEST LIGHTSTICK EVER MADE??? bruh bfr 😭

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@s2uniz why'd he make her move in the 1st place?

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

that sounds like woozi's laugh 😭 or i just miss him

[🎧 @vernonsource]

minghao being strict about vernon’s chinese pronunciation

🎱 you might sound like a foreigner
🐻‍❄️ that’s okay, i am a foreigner
🎱 still, it’d be nice if you got it down. you were so picky about my english-
👥 (laughs)

[jjakjjak⑰ @carat_rant]

@withhualian update me when it actually happens. still heartbroken in the unreleased s2 of the donghua svsss. they took the word teaser seriously 5 yrs in azkaban really