Led Zeppelin have won their long plagiarism battle over their classic song ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the band Spirit, relating to their song ‘Taurus’ after a verdict in favour of Led Zeppelin was upheld earlier this year.
The case was originally filed in 2014, by the trustee of Randy Wolfe’s estate. Wolfe was the guitarist in Spirit and he performed under the name ‘Randy California’. Wolfe wrote the song for Spirit. He died in 1997 and never took legal action himself while he was alive.
It was alleged that Led Zeppelin took the opening notes of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ from the track ‘Taurus’ after Led Zeppelin frontman, Robert Plant saw Spirit perform in Birmingham in 1970. Plant has said that he does not remember that concert due to a serious car accident he was involved in later that night, which affected his memory.
Led Zeppelin’s guitarist, Jimmy Page also argued that the chord sequence had “been around forever” and that he never heard of ‘Taurus’ until 2016.
In 2016, Led Zeppelin were cleared of plagiarism in a trial that last six days. In that court case, it was revealed that the song was in fact, a part of Page’s extensive music collection, consisting of 4,328 LPs and 5,882 CDs at the time. Another issue from 2016 trial is that Francis Maloify, who is the representative for the Wolfe’s estate, was not allowed to play ‘Taurus’ in court for the jury.
The verdict was overturned in 2018 after it was found that the judge in the first case made multiple errors in his ruling. The first error was that the judge was wrong in stating that “descending chromatic scales, arpeggios or short sequences of three notes” were not protected by copyright law. It was also decided that the fact the song ‘Taurus’ was not allowed to be played in the 2016 trial, was an error as well.
The case returned in March 2020, but the US appeals court reinstated the original 2016 verdict. This meant the only action left for Wolfe’s trustee team was to take the case to US Supreme Court. Now that the Supreme Court has declined to hear the case and reject their appeal, it means that the 2016 verdict remains.
Maloify said in a statement that “Led Zeppelin won on a technicality” and the that the “lawsuit has accomplished its goal”.
“Today, the world knows that: 1, Randy California wrote the introduction to ‘Stairway to Heaven’; 2, Led Zeppelin are the greatest art thieves of all time; and 3, Courts are as imperfect as rock stars”.
Led Zeppelin have refused to comment on the case.
The recent ruling in Led Zeppelin’s favour has impacted other copyright cases, beyond rock music. Christian rapper Flame had taken legal action against pop star Katy Perry for her song ‘Dark Horse’. Flame has accused Perry of stealing from him and his song ‘Joyful Noise’. This case has been an ongoing battle in the courts for many years. Now that Led Zeppelin have won their case, it has prompted a judge to throw out Flame’s case against Perry.
