The reason behind both pieces of news is plagiarism. Flemish composers (and brothers) Eddy and Danny Van Passel filed a complaint in 1995 stating that "You are not Alone", recorded by Jackson but written by American R&B singer Robert Kelly, was a copy of their 1993 song "If We Can Start All Over". A Brussels court ruled in their favour three years ago, but the ruling is only valid in Belgium. "You Are Not Alone" can no longer be played on the radio here or sold anywhere in the country.

In these days of instant access to information, the problem of plagiarism is growing.

Piet Huysentruyt, the TV star and best selling cookbook writer known as SOS Piet, vowed last week to fight following the ruling of a judge in Liège that recipes were not protected by copyright and could therefore be re-published freely. A recipe, the judge reasoned, is an idea, which cannot be copyrighted: only the form in which it appears is protected. So you can steal SOS Piet's idea, but you have to change the words a little.

"If it appears that through a loophole in the law culinary recipes have no rights, that loophole has to be urgently closed," the knife-wielding Huysentruyt said. His interests are clear: he has sold 1.3 million books already, which fuels audiences for his VTM shows, which in turn promotes new books. His own personal style is the source of his success, rather than any gastronomic innovation.

Flemish artist Arne Quinze, meanwhile, is fighting a similar battle. Last week, a court in Hasselt declared itself incompetent to deal with a lawsuit by the Oudenaarde-based artist, responsible for well-known, large-scale public installations such as "The Sequence", which graces Brussels' Leuvenseweg in front of the Flemish Parliament. He filed suit against an artist from Sint- Truiden who he says copied his work. His lawyers plan to fight the case in the appeal court in Antwerp.