Led Zeppelin emerged victorious in a long copyright battle over "Stairway to Heaven" as a US appeals court reinstated a ruling that the band did not steal their Stairway to Heaven riff from another band.
In 2014, the British rock legends were accused of infringing on a 1986 song called "Taurus" by the US band Spirit. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2016 trial verdict that "Stairway to Heaven" did not rip off "Taurus," which was written three years before "Stairway to to Heaven."
This case has been one of the music industry's longest-running and closely-observed level disputes, with "Stairway to Heaven," being one of rock's most iconic songs and Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Facing potentially facing a million dollar bill in damages.
To prove copyright infringement, a plaintiff must evidence that the alleged infringer had access to the plaintiff's work, and that the two works are "substantially similar." The appeals court held that the idea of "access" has become diluted in the age of the Internet, with millions of work digitally available on major streaming platforms. The court also noted that the inverse ratio rule, concerning the idea that the more access was proven, the less similarity needs to be evidenced, has the effect of "establishing a lower burden of proof for infringement of popular works."
“It was a terrible rule,” said Ed McPherson, the attorney acting on behalf of Led Zeppelin in support of songwriters, producers and musicians. “If you have a lot of access, that shouldn’t mean there should be a lesser standard to prove copyright infringement. It’s never made sense to me.”
The court also pushed back on the claims of similarity in the Led Zeppelin case, in an opinion that should hearten critics of the “Blurred Lines” decision.
“We have never extended copyright protection to just a few notes,” the court held. “Instead we have held that ‘a four-note sequence common in the music field’ is not the copyrightable expression in a song.”
“Obviously the court got it wrong,” responded the Spirit trustee's lawyer Francis Malofiy. “This is a big loss for creators, those who copyright laws are meant to protect.” Malofiy said he may appeal to the US supreme court."
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