The guitar riff Led Zeppelin used in
the 1971 classic "Stairway to Heaven" differed substantially from one
the English band was accused of stealing from the U.S. group Spirit, a jury
found on Thursday in a copyright infringement trial in Los Angeles.
The decision was a victory for Led Zeppelin, one of
the top selling rock acts of all time, after an week-long trial in U.S.
District Court in Los Angeles that had called into question the originality of
their signature song.
The jury, in their second day of deliberations, found
Led Zeppelin's singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page had access to
Spirit's 1967 song "Taurus" but that the riff they were accused of
taking was not intrinsically similar to the opening chords of "Stairway."
Page and Plant, who have attended court since the
beginning of the closely-watched trial on June 14, showed little reaction
immediately after the verdict was announced in court.
The lawsuit accusing Led Zeppelin of taking a
descending chord progression in "Stairway" from the instrumental
"Taurus" was brought in 2014 by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the
estate of the late Spirit guitarist and songwriter Randy Wolfe.
Guitarist Jimmy Page, who co-wrote the song with Plant
and worked on the guitar riff, testified that he was largely unfamiliar with
"Taurus," but that he did own a copy of the band's self-titled album
that contained the song.
(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis;
editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)
No comments:
Post a Comment