1970’s rockband “Spirit” and it’s guitarist estate lost a Federal Copyright case this month, against none other than Led Zeppelin. In a highly publicized case, the estate of the late Spirit guitarist, Randy Wolfe, accused Zeppelin of co-headlining at a show back in 1970, hearing the Spirit performance of “Taurus”, and using the same guitar riffs in Stairway to Heaven a year later.
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant issues a statement that they were extremely grateful to “put to rest questions about it’s origins…. confirming what we’ve known for 45 years.”
Led Zepplin’s legal team argued that the notes in question, a specific progression of chords was extremely common and could be proven to be in use in songs from 300 years ago. This argument, which others have explored, uses the Zipf occurrence. Despite the thousands of variations that all known note combinations can produce, 80% of the most commonly used note or chord progressions are the same. That’s because only a small band of notes actually sounds good.
A great example is the widely known chord progression C–G–Am–F, which has been used in literally thousands of pop songs from Eminem to Celine Dion.
Arguably, the jury had a nice case to sit on. They were treated to long explanations by Led Zepplin as to the history and inspiration of Stairway to Heaven. Further, the judge agreed to let plaintiff representation to play acoustic guitar renditions of both songs.
Fans celebrated worldwide to the news that the integrity of the song, the band, and it’s legacy was defended. However, counsel to the plaintiff stated after words that they were in an unadvantageous case. The plaintiff lawyer, Francis Malofiy, a colorful character in his own right, stated that there are “obviously appealable issues” in the case. He also said, he feels the case was tried in an ‘alternate reality’.
For now, this reality holds that Led Zeppelin did not violate copyright law.