Led Zeppelin acquitted of plagiarism – NRK

Through four decades has Led Zeppelin ballad “Stairway to Heaven” has been part of rock textbook. Now an American jury made its that curriculum not be rewritten, according to among others the BBC.

The dispute kernel is the familiar chord progression inaugurating track.

Met during a concert in 1970

In 2014, claimed representatives of the long dissolved American band Spirit that intro to the song is taken straight from their far lesser known hit “Taurus” from 1968.

the foundation that administers the legacy SPIRIT guitarist Randy Craig Wolfe went that year to court to get Wolfe recognized as co-author of “Stairway to Heaven”.

Earlier this year they claim that the similarities between the two songs were numerous enough to let a jury deciding plagiarism issue.

“Stairway to Heaven” was released in 1971. the year before had Led Zeppelin and Spirit played together at a club in Birmingham, and the plaintiff has claimed it was in connection with this meeting that Led Zeppelin members were familiar with the track.

Spirit bassist Mark Andes told the witness about how he and Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant had played snooker after the concert, the BBC writes.

Plant explained on his part that he could not remember the aforementioned evening and blamed partly that he had ended up in a serious car accident later that night.

was not believed, but was successful

Page and Zeppelin guitarist Robert Plant have in court claimed that they never had access to “Taurus”, but was not believed by the jury.

After getting both songs performed in the courtroom several times, got a unanimous jury nevertheless concluded that the two songs were not similar enough to be able to establish that copyright is infringed.

Lawyer Francis Malofiy, representing the deceased Spirit guitarist foundation, says he is disappointed by the decision and criticized the court’s decision to only let the jury hear acoustic versions of the songs, and not the original recordings.

– We proved access, but the jury never got to hear what they had access to, he told AFP.

Malofiy say they have not decided whether to appeal the ruling on.