Stairway to Court: Led Zeppelin Fights to Prove it Did Not Copy Intro to “Stairway to Heaven” in Copyright Dispute
A Los Angeles jury has ruled that Led Zeppelin did not copy the intro for their iconic song, “Stairway to Heaven,” for the moment, resolving this major copyright dispute. The band was accused of copying key note patterns in the first two minutes of the song from a song called “Taurus” by the band Spirit which was released four years before “Stairway to Heaven.” The estate of one of Spirit’s deceased members, Randy Craig Wolfe, had filed the suit, seeking a partial song writing credit and compensation. Wolfe’s estate argued that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were familiar with “Taurus” when they recorded “Stairway to Heaven” and that the songs were substantially similar. Wolfe’s estate presented evidence that Page and Plant had seen Spirit in concert and that they owned a recording of “Taurus.” Page and Plant took the stand to dispute their familiarity with “Taurus,” stating that the contested passage of the song was a standard descending chord sequence in the public domain.
To bolster their claims that the song was original, Plant took the stand and recounted, in detail, writing “Stairway to Heaven” with Page at a countryside retreat in England in 1971. Plant told the court that Page was playing music by the fire, and Plant offered a couplet to go with it as a lyric. When asked by his attorney if he remembered what the lyric was, Plant stated that the lyric was the now famous opening line to “Stairway to Heaven,” “There’s a lady who knows all that glitters is gold and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.” When Page took the stand, he recounted the same story of the song’s creation as Plant did. Page also testified that he never remembered hearing Spirit perform live, claiming he first heard “Taurus” two years ago on the internet.
After five hours of deliberation, the jury found that Wolfe’s estate failed to show that Plant and Page were familiar with “Taurus,” and that the works were substantially similar. It remains unclear whether Wolfe’s estate intends to appeal the decision.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/23/media/stairway-to-heaven-trial-verdict/
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