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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: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday March 10 2020, @02:25PM (1 child)

    by deimtee (3272) on Tuesday March 10 2020, @02:25PM (#969053) Journal

    1/ That's up to them to designate someone. It would probably be whoever put up the money or the director. How many of those hundreds of people own the copyright now?

    2/ The five years was to match up to the contract term. All contracts would expire before the copyright does.

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  • (Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday March 11 2020, @02:20AM

    by Pino P (4721) on Wednesday March 11 2020, @02:20AM (#969428) Journal

    I can understand a producer as a work's author of record.

    But here's the exploit I had in mind: Someone wants to produce a derivative of a particular work but finds its author of record unwilling to license it at any price. So to start the life + 5 clock ticking, someone frustrated with the uncooperative MAFIAA hires someone from the real Mafia to make this author disappear and then waits out the five years.