Led Zeppelin Ordered to go Back on Trial in 'Stairway to Heaven' Copyright Lawsuit

[Brians Evil Twin]

From a technical standpoint, I'd say the first jury was right, it's baseless.

In the first 2 bars, the chordal structure is similar (not identical) and other than the first three notes and the time signature, the melodic and harmonic arrangement is significantly different.

From an aural standpoint they have some initial similarities, but the Spirit song quickly transitions to A major and then goes off in a completely different direction.

And "similarities" is subjective and probably won't stand up to a reasonably good legal defence. In any case, I hope LZ prevails, we don't need more copyright infringement cases clogging up the courts and scaring off new songwriters.

 

[LPMarshall Hack]

Spirit deserves to lose just based on their band name alone. What a stupid name for a band.

 

[Bobby Mahogany]

(...)
But the federal appeals court panel that overturned the 2016 ruling held that parts of the jury instructions in that trial were erroneous and prejudicial. The appeals court also found that the U.S. district court that decided the first trial abused its discretion by not allowing recordings of "Taurus" to be played during the proceedings.

 

[MooCheng]

no fvcks given, not even a flying one

 

[mgenet]

I need to copyright the chromatic scale and then sue everyone for using any of the notes. It's mine, fuckers.

Artistic butthurt is out of control.

Noowww I understand why I don't learn that scale...its illegal.

 

[Cinegoat]

Jesus. All this litigation is taking away JP's precious time to bitch about his neighbors pool. Come on guys.

 

[Dolebludger]

The appeals court sent the case back for retrial because of some alleged bad jury instructions, and the refusal of the trial judge to allow the jury to hear “Taurus”. But it seems that this case will have to turn on the question of whether a chord progression can be copyrighted.

 

[Deus Vult]

9th circuit....the most reversed court in the USA

 

[Les Kiwi]

Absolutely ridiculous! I refuse to submit to any judgement that says I can't annoy my neighbours with my horrible playing of Led Zep at extremely loud volumes because it may infringe someones copyright!

 

[NRBQ]

Jesus. All this litigation is taking away JP's precious time to bitch about his neighbors pool. Come on guys.

I hadn't heard about that, did a little reading up on the conflict. Classic funny, apparently whenever his neighbor sees Jimmy out in his garden, he blasts other Zep rival bands (Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple etc.) on his stereo to piss him off. Additionally he sometimes dresses up as Robert Plant complete with wig and proper stuffings to make the image complete. Now that's funny. I also read that Pagie lost his lawsuit to stop the guy from building a pool inside his house. Now apparently Jimmy is feuding with another neighbor for some reason or another. Sounds like he's hard to get along with, Prima Madonna.

 

[Armitage]

When you consider that Zep opened for Taurus for a while as the song was played... and they sound so similar it just screams rip off (intentional or not).

 

[Ayrton]

Artistic butthurt is out of control.

I have nothing to add except to say if there is not a punk band called "Artistic Butthurt" by the end of the month, I don't know what the hell is wrong with you people.

 

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

Always surprises me how such a common chord progression such as this could be taken to court. I would probably have come across this descending minor chord sequence at some point on my own without hearing either of these tracks lol.

Then you have something as seemingly blatant as these two songs...

You even have the handclaps / clicks in the same place ?!

 

[Breezin]

9th circuit....the most reversed court in the USA

That court is a disgrace , its not a court its a legislature.

 

[Jymbopalyse]

 

[strat1701]

not this shit....again.....

 

[Tweeedman]

My Funny Valentine has the same chord progression. And that's written when?

 

[sk8rat]

so I posted this before on here and can say with almost 100% certainty that they heard it and adapted it into what became stairway to heaven. despite the fact that there are tons of other songs that sound like it, I am so certain because on the live bootleg the dancing avocado from 1969, they play part of a spirit song. its been a long time since I've listened to it so I dont remember where on the album it is or what song but it's there.

these were both done about a year apart form each other. you can either say great minds think alike or they we both inspired by someone else. most likely the latter.