The evidence for the upcoming Led Zeppelin court case has recently been revealed. The trial which takes place on May 10th looks to determine whether the riff for ‘ Stairway To Heaven’ was an act of plagiarism.
The court case will compare Led Zeppelin’s track to Spirit’s 1968 song ‘Taurus’ to see whether the riff from the song was plagiarised. The plaintiff is claiming that the Spirit guitarist should be given a songwriting credit.
On Monday April 25th, US District Judge Gary Klausner ruled what evidence will and will not by heard the jury. He ruled that any testimony on how Led Zeppelin were “serial plagiarists” has been banned from the case.
It’s also suggested that the band members’ alcohol and drug use cannot be used as evidence to cast doubts on denials that the band had never heard Spirit’s ‘Taurus’ before composing ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
The judge also made a ruling on the plaintiff’s experts saying “These musicologists prepared their reports and opinions by relying upon sound recordings that embodied unprotected performance elements.” The judge has given them five days to submit new expert reports that have unprotected performance elements removed.
Photo Credit: ierdnall
