Music and Time Annotation << Back Problems of Defi ning Plagiarism in Academic and Pop-Jazz Musical Art A.A. Bobeyko The article is devoted to the problem of determining the corpus delicti of plagiarism in the art of music. Noting the presence of a complex problem in the area of an exceptionally large distance between theoretical ideas about plagiarism and law enforcement practice and the need to improve the latter, the author sets a goal – to come to an understanding of possible ways to most effectively solve this problem. Analysis of the texts of domestic and foreign legislation, as well as scientifi c literature on the issues under study, allowed the author to come to the conclusion that law enforcement practice is based on a formal approach that does not at all allow for a full separation of plagiarism and creative borrowing. An analysis of the scientifi c literature allows us to conclude that science at the present stage of its development is not able to give specifi c practical recommendations for such a division. Investigating cases of pre-trial and judicial proceedings in the fi eld of incorrect borrowings in academic and pop-jazz musical art in Russia and abroad in the 20th – 21st centuries, the author comes to the paradoxical conclusion that there is no need to improve the current legislation. Auto argues his position by the fact that, fi rstly, improvement of this kind is possible only in a situation of increasing the level of scientifi c knowledge about the essence of plagiarism. Secondly, with all its imperfections, modern law enforcement practice, which has no actual rational basis and is more inclined to an individual approach, quite successfully suppresses cases of obvious plagiarism, without thus interfering with the process of development of musical art. Keywords: plagiarism, copyright, reinterpretation, legal support of copyright, academic musical art, pop-jazz musical art, borrowings in art. DOI: 10.25791/music.12.2023.1267 Pp. 23-28.