After much deliberation and debate we have got a final verdict on the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ case. Led Zeppelin have won the lawsuit against them, which accused them of stealing the riff for their song ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
The band were accused of stealing the riff from Spirit’s song ‘Taurus’. The final verdict from the jury concluded that Led Zeppelin have not plagirised the riff for their song.
The case was brought forward by by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the late Randy California (real name Randy Wolfe), who played guitar in Spirit. He argued that Wolfe should be given a writing credit for the song.
The trial officially began earlier this month on June 14th, with the attorney Francois Malofiy asking for one-third credit. Malofiy also said Page and Plant had been “selectively mis-remembering things that happened many years ago” and implied there must be a reason why they were doing that.”
Malofiy and his economist Dr. Michael Einhorn said the assessed damages totaled “somewhere in the middle” of $10 million (€8.9 million) in alleged gross profits, with the lawsuit coming to a head after Zeppelin reissued ‘Stairway to Heaven’ in 2014. After one day of deliberations, eight jurors have now decided that Led Zeppelin did not steal the riff for their song.
Photo Credit: ierdnall
