Led Zeppelin wins “Stairway to heaven” authorship battle
The group Led Zeppelin, which has been accused of plagiarism in the song “Stairway to heaven” since 2014, won the fight for copyright, reports The Independent.
The US Supreme Court refused to review the plagiarism case in the 1971 song, thus ending a six-year legal battle. By rejecting the motion to reopen the case without explanation, the court actually upheld the March decision of the Court of Appeal in favor of the authors of the composition: Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
The plaintiffs (representatives of the heritage of guitarist and composer Randy California from the band Spirit) have been trying to prove in court since 2014 that the beginning of the song “Stairway to heaven” is similar to the introduction of Randy’s song “Taurus”, released in 1968.
The Los Angeles County jury ruled in 2016 that the plagiarism charges were unfounded, but then the case was referred to the San Francisco Court of Appeals, which upheld the previous decision.
The plagiarism case for the song “Stairway to Heaven” has become one of the most popular in the recording industry.