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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 The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:22PM (7 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:22PM (#969084) Homepage Journal

    Two stupids don't make a smart.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Wednesday March 11 2020, @06:24PM

    by crafoo (6639) on Wednesday March 11 2020, @06:24PM (#969737)

    Sure, who would disagree with that? I wasn't claiming it was right, just that they should reap the consequences of the system they support when it benefits them.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday March 13 2020, @12:23PM (5 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday March 13 2020, @12:23PM (#970659) Journal
    What's stupid about it?

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @02:16PM (4 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday March 13 2020, @02:16PM (#970703) Homepage Journal

      Mainly? That it's not humanly possible to police every sound recording made after your wonderful creation to ensure no violation has occurred. If it's not possible, it's absurd to require.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 14 2020, @12:54PM (3 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 14 2020, @12:54PM (#971165) Journal

        That it's not humanly possible to police every sound recording made after your wonderful creation to ensure no violation has occurred.

        Why would you need to? In this story, that wasn't the problem. The copyright holders just need to police one thing in a timely manner. They waited 43 years instead.

        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @01:43PM (2 children)

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday March 14 2020, @01:43PM (#971183) Homepage Journal

          So what? Time passing doesn't make wrong into right or vice versa.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:35PM (1 child)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:35PM (#971248) Journal
            We already have this well-established principle of statute of limitations, even with copyright violations - basically that if enough time passes, the state won't help you. I'm just extending that a little further to say that if enough time passes, you should forgo all claims, not just things more than three years old at the time of initiating the lawsuit.

            • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @09:55PM

              by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday March 14 2020, @09:55PM (#971335) Homepage Journal

              Yeah, no, we effectively do not have a statute of limitations on copyright and haven't since the ability for anyone to easily copy any work came about. We have a very narrowly crafted limitation on it that is all but nonexistent because the clock is restarted every time a copy is made.

              I've said it before but let me rephrase it, you do not fix idiotic laws by adding a frosting of retardation.

              --
              My rights don't end where your fear begins.