Led Zeppelin Wins “Stairway To Heaven” Lawsuit
Led Zeppelin did not plagiarize the opening chords of the iconic hit "Stairway To Heaven," a Los Angeles jury ruled today. It's a case that could have cost $10's of millions in back and future royalties, but may still help reshape modern copyright law.
It took a jury in Los Angeles less than a full day of deliberation to decided that Led Zeppelin did not steal the intro to the classic "Stairway to Heaven."
The trust for the late songwriter Randy Wolfe of Spirit claimed that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant stole the opening riff from Wolfe's 1968 instrumental "Taurus." Page, Plant and bassist John Paul Jones all testified in the case.
Experts for Wolfe claimed that the two songs have many similarities; while defense experts testified that they shared a only a common musical chord progression used by other songs, as well.
Here's a comparison of the two songs:
