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Appeals Court Rules Led Zeppelin Did Not Steal Stairway to Heaven Riff

posted by martyb on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the Name-That-Tune-In-5-Notes dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Led Zeppelin have triumphed in a long-running copyright dispute after a US appeals court ruled they did not steal the opening riff in Stairway To Heaven.

The British rock legends were accused in 2014 of ripping off a song called Taurus by the US band Spirit.

Taurus was written in 1968, three years before Stairway To Heaven.

Now, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has upheld a 2016 trial verdict that found Led Zeppelin did not copy it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51805905

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  • (Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday March 10 2020, @09:17AM (3 children)

    by anubi (2828) on Tuesday March 10 2020, @09:17AM (#968978) Journal

    Lots of things use the same parts.

    Did Chevrolet violate Ford's patents if they also used SAE bolts and nuts?

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    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]

  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:26PM (2 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:26PM (#969087) Homepage Journal

    Pretty sure there were mountains of prior art by the time the first Chevrolet rolled off the line. Nothing in the world wrong with using public domain technology along with patentable parts.

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    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:54PM (1 child)

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:54PM (#969113) Journal

      That doesn't excuse the way copyright derivation is interpreted. Or the ridiculous lengths. Or much of anything else about current copyright law...like the expense of either defending or prosecuting.

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