September 12 2007 – According to news from the AFP, despite the ridiculously misleading headline, a court in Brussels has ruled {tag R. Kelly} plagiarized the song ‘You Are Not Alone’ which Kelly says was written by him for singer Michael Jackson. The {tag Brussels} court ruled all authorial rights are to be switched to two Belgian twin brothers, Eddy and Danny Van Passel, who sued in civil court.

However, according to AFP, the order is only applicable to Belgium. The song is supposed to be withdrawn from commercial outlets in Belgium.

From the report:

The twin composers have fought for 12 years to gain recognition for their work, however the judgment is only applicable in Belgium and getting hold of royalties may be no simple task.

Canada’s The Globe and Mail by way of Reuters -- one news source with a correct headline “Belgian court says R. Kelly song was {tag plagiarize}d” -- states that R. Kelly’s lawyers couldn’t be reached for comment.

What’s interesting is not even this obvious type of news can keep headline writers from using Jackson’s name to move the story around.

Many sources, including the AFP -- as well as those who have picked up the story for publication on their online blogs/news sites -- have misleading headlines like “Michael Jackson Plagiarized Hit Tune”.

Only, it appears that the facts have gotten in the way of a good, negative Jackson headline. Too bad.

Would it have been too much for someone looking at the details to say, ‘ya know, Jackson didn’t plagiarize anything because he didn’t write the song. Maybe we should change the headline?’

The fact that Jackson isn’t the song-stealer is only readable if someone actually takes the time to read or skim the actual details of the article.

‘You Are Not Alone’ was the first song ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard charts when it was released.

-MJEOL

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