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The band, one of the best-selling rock acts of
all time, was handed victory after the U.S. Supreme Court
declined to take up the case, meaning that a March 2020 decision
by a U.S. appeals court in Led Zeppelin's favor will stand.
Lead singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page had been
accused in the six-year long case of lifting the riff - one of
the best-known openings in rock music - from a song called
"Taurus", written by the late Randy Wolfe of the U.S. band
Spirit.
Wolfe, who performed as Randy California, drowned in 1997, and
the case was brought by a trustee for his estate. It has been
one of the music industry's most closely watched copyright
cases, potentially exposing Plant and Page to millions of
dollars in damages.
Led Zeppelin was the opening act for Spirit on a U.S. tour in
1968, but Page testified in a 2016 jury trial in Los Angeles
that he had not heard "Taurus" until recently.
The Los Angeles jury found the riff they were accused of
stealing was not intrinsically similar to the opening chords of
"Stairway to Heaven."
Francis Malofiy, who represented Wolfe's estate, said on Monday
that Led Zeppelin "won on a technicality" and said that the
lawsuit had accomplished its goal.
"Today, the world knows that: 1) Randy California wrote the
introduction to 'Stairway to Heaven'; 2) Led Zeppelin are the
greatest art thieves of all time; and 3) Courts are as imperfect
as rock stars," Malofiy said in a statement.
Led Zeppelin has yet to comment on the conclusion of the case.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bill Berkrot and David
Gregorio)
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