Led Zeppelin "Stairway" Wins VS Spirit's "Taurus"

[landtuna]

I thought someone would post this before now but I haven't seen anything on the forums yet so here goes:

A lawsuit which has been ongoing for almost a decade finally reached the SCOTUS where it was not heard. The victory therefore goes to the defendants Led Zepplin for their 1970 song "Stairway to Heaven". Lower courts had found no copyright violation.

The plaintiff in this case was the founder of the group Spirit who felt their 1968 song "Taurus" had been copied by "Stairway".

Both of these songs are favorites of mine but I could not see the link either.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/led-zeppelin-win-stairway-heaven-153218849.html

 

[CTListener]

I thought someone would post this before now but I haven't seen anything on the forums yet so here goes:

A lawsuit which has been ongoing for almost a decade finally reached the SCOTUS where it was not heard. The victory therefore goes to the defendants Led Zepplin for their 1970 song "Stairway to Heaven". Lower courts had found no copyright violation.

The plaintiff in this case was the founder of the group Spirit who felt their 1968 song "Taurus" had been copied by "Stairway".

Both of these songs are favorites of mine but I could not see the link either.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/led-zeppelin-win-stairway-heaven-153218849.html

There is a definite similarity in the intros to the two songs, but little if any after that. If the similarity had continued, as it did in the "My Sweet Lord"/"He's So Fine" dispute, Led Zep likely would have lost its case long ago.

 

[semoochie]

I thought someone would post this before now but I haven't seen anything on the forums yet so here goes:

A lawsuit which has been ongoing for almost a decade finally reached the SCOTUS where it was not heard. The victory therefore goes to the defendants Led Zepplin for their 1970 song "Stairway to Heaven". Lower courts had found no copyright violation.

The plaintiff in this case was the founder of the group Spirit who felt their 1968 song "Taurus" had been copied by "Stairway".

Both of these songs are favorites of mine but I could not see the link either.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/led-zeppelin-win-stairway-heaven-153218849.html

When I heard "Taurus", I was surprised how similar it was to the entire opening of "Stairway"! The groups played on the same venue. I would've expected this case to be settled years ago!

 

[boombox4]

When I heard "Taurus", I was surprised how similar it was to the entire opening of "Stairway"! The groups played on the same venue. I would've expected this case to be settled years ago!

I think one of Johnny Rivers' minor hits also had a similar chord progression.

 

[TheBigA]

I was at a forum on music copyright a while back, and was told that every song that's published today must go through a process where the song is transcribed by a computer, and those notes are then compared with every other published composition to see if there's a match. If there is, the writer is told where the notes match, and song is changed. None of this technology existed 50 years ago.

 

[KeithE4]

When I heard "Taurus", I was surprised how similar it was to the entire opening of "Stairway"! The groups played on the same venue. I would've expected this case to be settled years ago!

The opening, yes, but not the entire song. I think what will come out of this (and all the other plagiarism accusations in the past) is that, just like a song title, one cannot copyright a riff.

 

[CTListener]

The opening, yes, but not the entire song. I think what will come out of this (and all the other plagiarism accusations in the past) is that, just like a song title, one cannot copyright a riff.

Compare the Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie" and the Ohio Express' "Beg, Borrow and Steal." AFAIK, there's never been a lawsuit over these songs, and the opening riffs are identical.