Lawsuit Over Zeppelin Wins

Photo Credit: Photorazzi \ PRphotosLed Zeppelin’s success in defending themselves from charges they ripped off Spirit’s “Taurus” for “Stairway to Heaven” continues. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict today (Monday) finding the song did not infringe on “Taurus.”

The court held, “We have never extended copyright protection to just a few notes. Instead we have held that ‘a four-note sequence common in the music field’ is not the copyrightable expression in a song.”

This case began in 2014 when journalist Michael Skidmore filed suit on behalf of the estate of Randy Wolfe of Spirit. In 2016, a jury ruled in favor of Zeppelin. But an appeal was filed, and in 2018 a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals revived the case, claiming that Judge Gary Klausner had given the wrong jury instructions, and ordered a new trial.

Zeppelin’s attorneys then appealed, and for now, this case is dead — and hopefully in heaven.

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