Led Zeppelin wins appeal in “Stairway to Heaven” copyright suit

[mktmaker]

LOS ANGELES – A federal appeals court on Monday restored a jury verdict that found Led Zeppelin did not steal “Stairway to Heaven."

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco handed the major win to guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant and dealt a blow to the estate of Randy Wolfe of the band Spirit. The estate claimed that the 1971 mega-hit “Stairway to Heaven” violated the copyright of the 1968 song “Taurus.”

A majority of an 11-judge panel overturned a previous ruling that the jury in the 2016 trial should have heard the recording of “Taurus" and was given poor instructions before jurors found in favor of Page and Plant.

The composition of the two songs, not their recordings, was at issue in the case, but the plaintiffs sought to play the two recordings for jurors as part of their argument that Page had access to the song “Taurus” as required to prove a copyright violation.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/ente...right-battle-over-stairway-heaven/5002366002/

 

[Xception]

I couldn’t tell the difference minus the lyrics, singing, bass, drums, space sounds, tempo and rhythm.

 

[FtWorthCat]

The most crazy of these types of lawsuits was when John Fogerty was sued for copying himself by his former record company.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

The most crazy of these types of lawsuits was when John Fogerty was sued for copying himself by his former record company.

or when Geffen sued Neil Young for NOT sounding like Neil young

 

[mktmaker]

The most crazy of these types of lawsuits was when John Fogerty was sued for copying himself by his former record company.

Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc.

John Fogerty was the lead singer of the popular rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival. In 1970, while part of the group, he wrote the song "Run Through the Jungle." Fantasy Records, the record label to which Creedence Clearwater Revival was signed, eventually acquired the exclusive publishing rights to the song.

Creedence Clearwater Revival disbanded in 1972, and Fogerty began a solo career with another music label. In 1985, Fogerty published the song "The Old Man Down the Road", which he released on Warner Bros. Records.

Fantasy sued Fogerty for copyright infringement, claiming that "The Old Man Down the Road" was essentially the music to "Run Through the Jungle" with new words. The case was litigated through a jury trial, and the jury found in Fogerty's favor, rejecting the claim of infringement. Fogerty then sought attorney's fees as authorized by the Copyright Act. The district court denied Fogerty's request on the grounds that, according to the court, Fantasy had not brought its suit in bad faith and the suit was not frivolous. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, adhering to circuit precedent setting differing standards for successful copyright plaintiffs and successful copyright defendants.

Under the Ninth Circuit standards, prevailing plaintiffs generally obtained attorneys' fees as a matter of course, but prevailing defendants had to show that the underlying suit was frivolous and brought in bad faith in order to recover fees. However, other circuits had different standards, for example, the Third Circuit favored an "evenhanded approach".[1]

Because of a circuit split among the courts of appeals on the standards for awarding attorneys' fees in copyright cases, the Supreme Court agreed to review the Ninth Circuit decision