Long-Running Legal Battle between Rock Bands ‘Spirit’ And ‘Zepplin’, Ruled out in Zepplin’s Favour

A landmark copyright judgment was recently passed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by a jury of 11 judges wherein the decision passed in 2016 by a trial court ruling that Led Zepplin did not copy or steal from Spirit to compose the best-loved song ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was upheld.

This long-running legal dispute goes in a story-like format involving a number of ups and downs. Factually, the song ‘Taurus’ which was written by the Spirit rock band’s lead guitarist Randy Wolfe, most commonly known as Randy California, launched in the year 1968. On the other hand, Led Zepplin’s classical composition was launched written by singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page in the year 1971, which is three years after Taurus’ launch. After Taurus was composed, both the leading bands, that is, the bands in the present dispute performed together on a stage. After the death of Spirit’s lead guitarist and composer, Randy California in the year 1997, his estate was taken over by Mr. Skidmore in 2006.  

This controversial dispute began in the year 2014 when Mr. Skidmore sued the British rock brand, Led Zepplin for allegedly stealing and using the parts of the track ‘Taurus’ in the Zepplin’s  classical creation ‘Stairway to Heaven’. This high-profile case was initially decided by a jury in 2016 wherein evidence given by Zepplin’s artists, Plant and Page was considered ruling out that the tracks were not intrinsically similar. The 2016 decision was appealed and the revived case moved to three-judge panel of the 9th Court of Appeals, wherein, Justice Gary Klausner decided in favour of Spirit.

The composers of Stairway to Heaven were affected by this decision and hence, appealed and requested for a full bench to rehear the case, which was accepted thereafter and a panel of 11 judges heard the case in September 2019. Finally, the trial came to an end on March 09, 2020 ruling out that the Led Zepplin’s classical composition, Stairway to Heaven was not borrowed or stolen from the Spirit’s 1968 hit-song, Taurus.

The decision is a turning-stone of the ages old “inverse ratio rule” used in deciding Copyright disputes since the 1970s. Originally, the rule suggested that for determining infringement, a party has to prove higher access to plaintff’s work. The judges opined, “The flaws in the rule can be seen in the inconsistent ways in which we have applied the rule within our circuit”. It was added, “Nothing in copyright law suggests that a work deserves stronger legal protection simply because it is more popular or owned by better-funded rights holders.”

Commenting on the present case they stated, “a four-note sequence common in the music field is not the copyrightable expression in a song.”

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