The copyright dispute overStairway To Heavenhas come to a close, with齐柏林飞艇乐队emerging the victors of a six-year-long legal battle involving the estate ofSpiritfrontman Randy Wolfe.
On Monday (5 October), the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case –petitioned for by Wolfe’s estate in Augustto overturn theMarch 2020 rulingby the Ninth US Circuit Court Of Appeals.
2020年3月的裁决支持the original 2016 trial verdict, finding thatStairway To Heavendid not infringe on Spirit’sTaurusas the musical elements shared by both songs were too basic to be protected by copyright law.
The original trial was filed back in 2014 by journalist Michael Skidmore on behalf of Wolfe’s estate. Lawyers for Wolfe’s estate argued that Led Zeppelin became familiar withTauruswhen the two bands shared a bill at a Birmingham club in 1970; Stairway to Heaven was released a year later on齐柏林飞艇乐队IV.
Guitarist Jimmy Page testified then that he was completely unaware of the Spirit tune until the early 2010s, after finding comparisons ofTaurusandStairway To Heavenonline.
“I knew I had never heard it before,” Page told the court. “Something like that would have stuck in my mind. I would remember that.”
While Page’s testimony was rejected by the jury, musicologists argued that the descending chord motif was a common musical device found in music for centuries. One expert citedChim Chim Cher-eefrom the Disney filmMary Poppinsas also having employed the same musical device.
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