Jury Rules Led Zeppelin Did Not Copy ‘Stairway To Heaven’ Intro

A Los Angeles jury has ruled the members of Led Zeppelin did not illegally copy the intro to their classic rock anthem “Stairway To Heaven,” according to a report by the Associated Press. A case was brought by the estate of late Spirit founder Randy Wolfe (Randy California) against songwriters Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and Warner Music alleging the iconic beginning melody of the iconic song was improperly lifted from Wolfe’s 1968 song “Taurus.”

Wolfe died in 1997 and the lawsuit against Page, Plant and John Paul Jones was originally filed by a trust set up on his behalf in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California in 2014. The Led Zeppelin defendants tried several times to have the case dismissed or have the Judge R Gary Klausner who was presiding over the trial rule in their favor.

Plant and Page both testified at the trial that lasted several days, each refuting any claims of having been influenced by the fairly obscure instrumental “Taurus.” The jurors began deliberating after closing arguments ended yesterday and resumed deliberation earlier today. “We are grateful for the jury’s conscientious service and pleased that it has ruled in our favor, putting to rest questions about the origins of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and confirming what we have known for 45 years,” Plant and Page said as per the New York Times’ Ben Sisario.