diff --git a/cyclonedx/spdx.py b/cyclonedx/spdx.py
index 52621c5d..8e59f376 100644
--- a/cyclonedx/spdx.py
+++ b/cyclonedx/spdx.py
@@ -14,11 +14,19 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-__all__ = ['is_supported_id', 'fixup_id', 'is_compound_expression']
+__all__ = [
+    'is_supported_id', 'fixup_id',
+    'is_compound_expression'
+]
 
 from json import load as json_load
 from os.path import dirname, join as path_join
-from typing import Dict, Optional, Set
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Dict, Optional, Set
+
+from license_expression import get_spdx_licensing  # type: ignore
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from license_expression import Licensing
 
 # region init
 # python's internal module loader will assure that this init-part runs only once.
@@ -30,9 +38,11 @@
 
 __IDS_LOWER_MAP: Dict[str, str] = dict((id_.lower(), id_) for id_ in __IDS)
 
+__SPDX_EXPRESSION_LICENSING: 'Licensing' = get_spdx_licensing()
 
 # endregion
 
+
 def is_supported_id(value: str) -> bool:
     """Validate a SPDX-ID according to current spec."""
     return value in __IDS
@@ -50,11 +60,12 @@ def is_compound_expression(value: str) -> bool:
     """Validate compound expression.
 
     .. note::
-        Uses a best-effort detection of SPDX compound expression according to `SPDX license expression spec`_.
+        Utilizes `license-expression library`_ to
+        validate SPDX compound expression according to `SPDX license expression spec`_.
 
     .. _SPDX license expression spec: https://spdx.github.io/spdx-spec/v2.3/SPDX-license-expressions/
+    .. _license-expression library: https://github.com/nexB/license-expression
     """
-    # shortest known valid expression: (A or B) - 8 characters long
-    return len(value) >= 8 \
-        and value.startswith('(') \
-        and value.endswith(')')
+    return 0 == len(
+        __SPDX_EXPRESSION_LICENSING.validate(value).errors
+    )
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index ad7e3e50..47ef2159 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -19,6 +19,18 @@ docs = ["furo", "myst-parser", "sphinx", "sphinx-notfound-page", "sphinxcontrib-
 tests = ["attrs[tests-no-zope]", "zope.interface"]
 tests-no-zope = ["cloudpickle", "cloudpickle", "hypothesis", "hypothesis", "mypy (>=0.971,<0.990)", "mypy (>=0.971,<0.990)", "pympler", "pympler", "pytest (>=4.3.0)", "pytest (>=4.3.0)", "pytest-mypy-plugins", "pytest-mypy-plugins", "pytest-xdist[psutil]", "pytest-xdist[psutil]"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "boolean-py"
+version = "4.0"
+description = "Define boolean algebras, create and parse boolean expressions and create custom boolean DSL."
+category = "main"
+optional = false
+python-versions = "*"
+files = [
+    {file = "boolean.py-4.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:2876f2051d7d6394a531d82dc6eb407faa0b01a0a0b3083817ccd7323b8d96bd"},
+    {file = "boolean.py-4.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:17b9a181630e43dde1851d42bef546d616d5d9b4480357514597e78b203d06e4"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "colorama"
 version = "0.4.6"
@@ -310,6 +322,25 @@ typing-extensions = {version = "*", markers = "python_version < \"3.8\""}
 format = ["fqdn", "idna", "isoduration", "jsonpointer (>1.13)", "rfc3339-validator", "rfc3987", "uri-template", "webcolors (>=1.11)"]
 format-nongpl = ["fqdn", "idna", "isoduration", "jsonpointer (>1.13)", "rfc3339-validator", "rfc3986-validator (>0.1.0)", "uri-template", "webcolors (>=1.11)"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "license-expression"
+version = "30.1.1"
+description = "license-expression is a comprehensive utility library to parse, compare, simplify and normalize license expressions (such as SPDX license expressions) using boolean logic."
+category = "main"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.7"
+files = [
+    {file = "license-expression-30.1.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:42375df653ad85e6f5b4b0385138b2dbea1f5d66360783d8625c3e4f97f11f0c"},
+    {file = "license_expression-30.1.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:8d7e5e2de0d04fc104a4f952c440e8f08a5ba63480a0dad015b294770b7e58ec"},
+]
+
+[package.dependencies]
+"boolean.py" = ">=4.0"
+
+[package.extras]
+docs = ["Sphinx (==5.1.0)", "doc8 (>=0.8.1)", "sphinx-rtd-theme (>=0.5.0)", "sphinxcontrib-apidoc (>=0.3.0)"]
+testing = ["black", "isort", "pytest (>=6,!=7.0.0)", "pytest-xdist (>=2)", "twine"]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "lxml"
 version = "4.9.3"
@@ -860,4 +891,4 @@ testing = ["big-O", "flake8 (<5)", "jaraco.functools", "jaraco.itertools", "more
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = "^3.7"
-content-hash = "459de3873dc790f7ab293ba50f0bd991a14c3a65147a5fc2b111809f128fc3e9"
+content-hash = "fdc1e22d03f0e1e180558a0237ab46e94e512ce018b64419099f0d0915a39cf9"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fa882f32..3b9124b1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ python = "^3.7"
 packageurl-python = ">= 0.11"
 py-serializable = "^0.11.1"
 sortedcontainers = "^2.4.0"
+license-expression = "^30"
 
 [tool.poetry.dev-dependencies]
 ddt = "^1.6.0"
diff --git a/tests/test_spdx.py b/tests/test_spdx.py
index ff4c951b..d4399e31 100644
--- a/tests/test_spdx.py
+++ b/tests/test_spdx.py
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@
 
 VALID_COMPOUND_EXPRESSIONS = {
     # for valid test data see the spec: https://spdx.github.io/spdx-spec/v2.3/SPDX-license-expressions/
-    '(MIT WITH Apache-2.0)',
-    '(BSD-2-Clause OR Apache-2.0)',
+    '(MIT AND Apache-2.0)',
+    'BSD-2-Clause OR Apache-2.0',
 }
 
 
@@ -89,8 +89,9 @@ def test_positive(self, valid_expression: str) -> None:
         self.assertTrue(actual)
 
     @data(
+        'MIT AND Apache-2.0 OR something-unknown'
         'something invalid',
-        '(c) John Doe'
+        '(c) John Doe',
     )
     def test_negative(self, invalid_expression: str) -> None:
         actual = spdx.is_compound_expression(invalid_expression)