Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

A trial is needed to determine if Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" copies its opening notes from a song performed by the rock band Spirit, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S District Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled Friday that lawyers for the trustee of late Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe had shown enough evidence to support a case that "Stairway to Heaven" copies music from the Spirit song "Taurus."

"Taurus" was written by Wolfe in either 1966 or 1967, years before Led Zeppelin released "Stairway to Heaven" in 1971. Klausner wrote that while the songs have some differences, lawyers for Wolfe's trustee may be able to prove they are substantially similar.

Led Zeppelin and Spirit performed at some concerts and festivals around the same time, but not on the same stage. Klausner wrote that the evidence presented so far represented a circumstantial case that Led Zeppelin may have heard "Taurus" performed before "Stairway to Heaven" was created.


read more

Re: Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

Re: Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

I say they have a case!

Re: Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

Yes they do. So who is Spirit?

Re: Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

Seems kind of late in the game to be pursuing retribution. So what's next - the guy who wrote twinkle twinkle little star is gonna sue the guy who wrote the abc song lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Re: Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

All they can sue for is future earnings.

Re: Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

(All they can sue for is future earnings.)

I guess they missed the boat then.

Re: Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

The reason why below...

Re: Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

Every rock band is influenced by other artists.

Elvis and the Stones could be sued by numerous black musicians from the 40's and 50's if you wanna get downright technical.

Just because they're similar doesn't mean they're the same.

90% of all bands today could be sued for sounding like other bands before them.

Coldplay would be bankrupt if U2 decided to sue.

Re: Judge orders copyright trial over opening notes of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
 

Could you please provide us with an example of a piece Coldplay stole?