DOJ backs Led Zeppelin

[Wazmankg]

Justice Department backs Led Zeppelin in 'Stairway to Heaven' copyright case


I've always thought Spirit's claim of plagiary was one of the weakest I've heard along these lines. LZ definitely stole from others. But with Stairway, it's just the intro and while it is similar but it is not the same at all.. and the rest of the songs are completely different.

 

[blindbaby]

First off, that song is based off of the oldest progression in the world (as one of my music teachers used to call it). I think what might have happened is that Jimmy Page heard Taurus and that riff was somewhere in his subconscious. No doubt there are some similarities, but that's about as far as it goes.

My opinion is that unless an artist is flat out taking sales away from another artist, and the song in question is a note for note copy more than say 50% of the same lyrics, then a copyright lawsuit should never come into play. The majority of the copyright lawsuits I'm aware of are pretty dubious, to say the least.

 

[gohusk]

Yeah, that one was a reach. Not blatant like how they ripped off this one