A jury will decide...
This is in court today - the artists will be defending the claims.
Quote:
“Led Zeppelin’s lead singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page must face a US jury trial over whether they stole opening chords for their 1971 classic Stairway to Heaven.
The lawsuit was brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the late Randy Wolfe, also known as Randy California, who was Spirit’s guitarist and the composer of Taurus.
Skidmore said Page may have been inspired to write Stairway to Heaven for Led Zeppelin after hearing Spirit perform Taurus while the bands toured together in 1968 and 1969, but that Wolfe never got credit.
The defendants said Wolfe was a songwriter-for-hire who had no copyright claim, and that the chord progressions were so clichéd that they did not deserve copyright protection.
But the judge said a jury could find “substantial” similarity between the first two minutes of Stairway to Heaven and Taurus, which he called “arguably the most recognizable and important segments” of the songs.”
“Led Zeppelin’s lead singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page must face a US jury trial over whether they stole opening chords for their 1971 classic Stairway to Heaven.
The lawsuit was brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the late Randy Wolfe, also known as Randy California, who was Spirit’s guitarist and the composer of Taurus.
Skidmore said Page may have been inspired to write Stairway to Heaven for Led Zeppelin after hearing Spirit perform Taurus while the bands toured together in 1968 and 1969, but that Wolfe never got credit.
The defendants said Wolfe was a songwriter-for-hire who had no copyright claim, and that the chord progressions were so clichéd that they did not deserve copyright protection.
But the judge said a jury could find “substantial” similarity between the first two minutes of Stairway to Heaven and Taurus, which he called “arguably the most recognizable and important segments” of the songs.”
This is in court today - the artists will be defending the claims.
