A federal jury in Los Angeles on Thursday cleared Led Zeppelin of allegations that the band infringed the opening of the classic rock song "Stairway to Heaven."
The jury deliberated for less than a day after a trial that began June 14. The trial was based on claims that the famous intro to the 1971 song infringed the 1968 instrumental song "Taurus" from the band Spirit.
The case, in which tens of millions of dollars were at stake, was brought by the trust of Randy Wolfe, aka Randy California. The suit claimed Zep's opening to "Stairway to Heaven"—an acoustic guitar arpeggiating chords in a descending pattern—was a complete ripoff of California's "Taurus," which he wrote for the band Spirit. Zeppelin toured with Spirit in 1968, and California's complaint alleges that Zep guitarist/songwriter Jimmy Page had heard "Taurus" before the debut of "Stairway to Heaven," which appeared on Led Zeppelin IV in 1971.
Ars previously covered all the ins and outs of the case.
Page and Led Zeppelin frontman/lyricist Robert Plant shared a joint statement with Ars after the verdict. "We are grateful for the jury's conscientious service and pleased that it has ruled in our favor, putting to rest questions about the origins of 'Stairway to Heaven' and confirming what we have known for 45 years. We appreciate our fans' support and look forward to putting this legal matter behind us."
The two took to the stand during the trial on their own behalf. Page testified last week that he wasn't sure there were any similarities between the two songs.
"I may have said the chord sequences are very similar because that chord sequence has been around forever," Page testified.
Plant testified that he could not remember encountering the band Spirit. "I don't have a recollection of almost anyone I've hung out with," Plant said. He added that he couldn't remember playing with the band at a 1970 venue in England, either. "I can't actually recall Spirit or anyone playing there with the passing of time," he said.
William Hochberg, an intellectual property attorney at Greenberg Glusker in Los Angeles, told Ars this case aligns with how the legal system has understood the creative process. "I think the jury understood that Randy California didn't invent the A minor chord with a descending bass line. In music, as in all creative pursuits, the successful ones stand on the shoulders of giants before them," he said. "If our legal system uniformly banned this age-old process of using basic building blocks from the past, our copyright law is misused and the public suffers a creativity drought."
Hochberg added that it might be "Stairway to Hell" for Wolfe's trust because it likely will have to pay Led Zeppelin's legal fees for defending the case.
During his closing arguments on Wednesday, the attorney for Wolfe's trust told jurors that Plant and Page had committed copyright infringement and stole from "Taurus."
"We respect and we value creation,” attorney Francis Malofiy told the 8-member jury, which consisted of four men and four women. “Creation does not mean copying.… Creation means doing something that is unique and memorable."
Peter Anderson, the attorney representing Page, Plant, and various record labels involved in the case, told the jury that Led Zeppelin never even heard the song "Taurus." According to him, the similarities between the two tracks were because both songs included the "basic building blocks of music."
Here are the two songs at issue:
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