Goldsmiths, University of London - Name that tune

Software developed by an academic could spell the end of "melody plagiarism". Plagiarism in pop music is a common and often feverishly debated phenomenon that has affected high-profile artists such as the Bee Gees, George Harrison and Madonna. Now Daniel Mullensiefen, lecturer and co-director of the MSc in music, mind and brain at Goldsmiths, University of London's department of psychology, has co-published research on how to predict court decisions on music plagiarism. "We could develop this into a business where songwriters and music publishers submit songs and we test them against a database to see whether there are any highly similar pre-existing melodies," he said.