Taurus (instrumental)

"Stairway to Heaven" similarity

It was alleged that Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used the descending guitar-figure from "Taurus" for Led Zeppelin's signature song "Stairway to Heaven". Led Zeppelin had opened for Spirit in an early American tour, providing the possibility that Led Zeppelin had heard the Spirit song before "Stairway to Heaven" was written. In the liner notes to the 1996 reissue of Spirit's debut album, Randy California wrote:

People always ask me why "Stairway to Heaven" sounds exactly like "Taurus", which was released two years earlier. I know Led Zeppelin also played "Fresh Garbage" in their live set. They opened up for us on their first American tour.

Lawsuit

The estate of Randy California, who died in 1997, filed a copyright infringement suit in 2014 seeking a co-writing credit for California on "Stairway to Heaven." In April 2016, California Central District Court Judge Gary Klausner ruled that there were sufficient similarities between the songs to call for Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, credited as co-writers of "Stairway to Heaven", to stand trial by jury for copyright infringement.

The trial began on June 14, 2016. By law, the jury was not allowed to hear original recordings of the songs; instead, they heard an expert perform both songs in court using original sheet music.

The trial concluded on June 23, 2016, with the jury, after one hour of deliberation, finding that Led Zeppelin was not guilty of copyright infringement, determining that while Plant and Page had access to "Taurus", the song's riff was not "intrinsically similar" to the opening of "Stairway to Heaven."

The Wolfe estate filed an appeal, and in September 2018, a three judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, California, citing a series of errors by the previous case's judge, threw out by a 3–0 ruling the 2016 district court's decision. According to the appeals court decision, the 2016 trial judge erred in failing to instruct jurors that the trustee could prevail if Wolfe had created a "sufficiently original combination" of "otherwise unprotectable music elements," and also in instructing jurors about the copyrighting of music elements in the public domain. In October 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear the case, leaving the Ninth Circuit's decision in place and effectively ending the dispute.

References

References

1. Ruhlmann, William. (n.d.). "Spirit". [[AllMusic]].
2. "SPIRIT - Spirit (1968)".
3. (2020-10-05). "Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven copyright battle is finally over". BBC News.
4. "Randy California: obituary", ''[[Guitar World]]'', April 1997: 'But California's most enduring legacy may well be the fingerpicked acoustic theme of the song "Taurus," which Jimmy Page lifted virtually note for note for the introduction to "Stairway to Heaven".'
5. Perrone, Pierre. (January 17, 1997). "Obituary: Randy California". [[The Independent]].
6. Vincent, Peter. (May 20, 2014). "Did Led Zeppelin rip off Stairway to Heaven?". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
7. Lewis, Randy. (May 21, 2014). "Guitarist's estate says Led Zeppelin lifted 'Stairway to Heaven' part". [[Los Angeles Times]].
8. Silver, Vernon. (May 15, 2014). "Stairway to Heaven: The Song Remains Pretty Similar". [[Bloomberg Businessweek]].
9. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36022876 "Led Zeppelin stars face copyright trial"], ''BBC News'', April 12, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016
10. Gibson, Caitlin. (June 16, 2016). "Of course Jimmy Page testified like a rock star in the 'Stairway to Heaven' trial". [[The Washington Post]].
11. (June 23, 2016). "Led Zeppelin Win in 'Stairway to Heaven' Trial".
12. (June 23, 2016). "Led Zeppelin Wins 'Stairway to Heaven' Jury Trial".
13. (September 28, 2018). "Led Zeppelin must face new trial claiming it stole 'Stairway' riff". [[Reuters]].
14. (2020-03-09). "Led Zeppelin did not steal Stairway To Heaven riff, appeals court rules". BBC News.
15. {{cite court. (2017). link
16. (September 28, 2018). "Led Zeppelin to face new Stairway to Heaven trial".
17. (March 9, 2020). "Led Zeppelin wins 'Stairway to Heaven' copyright dispute". NBC News.
18. (October 5, 2020). "Led Zeppelin Wins Long 'Stairway to Heaven' Copyright Case". The New York Times.