A previous ruling sided with Led Zeppelin in a plagiarism case
The U.S. Department of Justice has ruled in favor of Led Zeppelin in the plagiarism case regarding "Stairway To Heaven." However, the legal action continues.
According to NBC , the Court of Justice was consulted to provide assistance in a preliminary opinion. The judge then clarified that the rights to musical compositions registered before 1972 are protected only by the musical score and not by the sound recordings.
“Taurus,” the song that Spirit claims was copied by Led Zeppelin in “Stairway to Heaven,” was written in 1967, which places it under the old copyright law.
The document argues that, despite similarities between the songs, the notes and rhythms are not the same.
In 2014, the band argued that the similar passage between the songs was limited to "a descending chromatic scale of tones" popular in the music world. This, according to them, was the reason why copyright protection did not apply.
A unanimous jury decision acquitted the band at the time. In 2019 , an appeals court reopened the case due to "errors committed in the first instance."
The process continues despite the previous conclusion.
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