Court orders new trial over claim that Led Zeppelin stole 'Stairway to Heaven'

The L.A. Times reports:

A federal appeals court decided unanimously Friday to overturn a jury’s decision that the British rock band Led Zeppelin did not copy another band in making the hit “Stairway to Heaven.”

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided a new trial was needed because the judge who presided over a 2016 trial had given erroneous and prejudicial instructions to the jury.

The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit that accused Led Zeppelin of stealing portions of “Stairway to Heaven” from a song called “Taurus,” which was written by Randy Wolfe of the Los Angeles-based band Spirit.

A trustee of Wolfe’s estate sued for copyright infringement, charging that the opening notes of “Stairway to Heaven” were substantially similar to those in “Taurus.”

After a five-day federal trial in Los Angeles, a jury found no copyright infringement.

The 9th Circuit said Friday that the trial judge should have told the jury that the selection and arrangement of some musical elements can violate copyright law.

The court said the judge erred by telling the jury that common musical elements, such as “descending chromatic scales, arpeggios or short sequences of three notes,” were not protected by copyright.

In fact, a limited number of notes or an original combination of music elements may have copyright protection, even if those elements alone already were in the public domain, the court said.

Stay tuned.