With new accusations of plagiarism for novelist AJ Flinn and Danny Boyle’s film Yesterday, it’s time to revisit what can – and cannot – be proven in literary theft. True, “it has long been claimed that there are somewhere between three and 36 basic plots in all forms of storytelling,” but that can’t account for specific details. Still … “legal action is very tricky in cases which don’t concern actual language copying but rely on copying of themes, plots or structure.” – The Guardian (UK)