Led Zepplin Wins "Stairway to Heaven" Copyright Case

Started by Malthus, June 23, 2016, 01:20:12 PM

Previous topic - Next topic
Print
Go Down Pages1
User actions

Malthus

June 23, 2016, 01:20:12 PM
Jury verdict just out:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-music-ledzeppelin-idUSKCN0Z914Z

Quote
The guitar riff Led Zeppelin used in the 1971 classic "Stairway to Heaven" differed substantially from one the English band was accused of stealing from the U.S. group Spirit, a jury found on Thursday in a copyright infringement trial in Los Angeles.

The decision was a victory for Led Zeppelin, one of the top selling rock acts of all time, after an week-long trial in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that had called into question the originality of their signature song.

The jury, in their second day of deliberations, found Led Zeppelin's singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page had access to Spirit's 1967 song "Taurus" but that the riff they were accused of taking was not intrinsically similar to the opening chords of "Stairway."

Page and Plant, who have attended court since the beginning of the closely-watched trial on June 14, showed little reaction immediately after the verdict was announced in court.

The lawsuit accusing Led Zeppelin of taking a descending chord progression in "Stairway" from the instrumental "Taurus" was brought in 2014 by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the estate of the late Spirit guitarist and songwriter Randy Wolfe.

Guitarist Jimmy Page, who co-wrote the song with Plant and worked on the guitar riff, testified that he was largely unfamiliar with "Taurus," but that he did own a copy of the band's self-titled album that contained the song.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane—Marcus Aurelius

lustindarkness

#1
June 23, 2016, 01:37:06 PM
QuoteAnd if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll
And she's buying the stairway to heaven
Grand Duke of Lurkdom

The Brain

#2
June 23, 2016, 02:26:08 PM
Jury is right.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

11B4V

#3
June 23, 2016, 03:41:57 PM
 :nelson:
"there's a long tradition of insulting people we disagree with here, and I'll be damned if I listen to your entreaties otherwise."-OVB

"Obviously not a Berkut-commanded armored column.  They're not all brewing."- CdM

"We've reached one of our phase lines after the firefight and it smells bad—meaning it's a little bit suspicious... Could be an amb—".

Josquius

#4
June 23, 2016, 05:34:43 PM
Why was this even a thing?
Someome just noticed the similarity now? After so long?
██████
██████
██████

The Minsky Moment

#5
August 02, 2016, 01:52:00 PM
Quote from: Tyr on June 23, 2016, 05:34:43 PM
Why was this even a thing?
Someome just noticed the similarity now? After so long?

Led Zeppelin issues a "remastered" Stairway, this restarting the limitations clock.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson
Print
Go Up Pages1
User actions