‘Stairway to Heaven’ copyright verdict tossed

Looks like Spirit vs. Led Zeppelin, round 2.

The British band’s victory in the “Stairway to Heaven” copyright case has been overturned by a federal appeals court.

The rock powerhouse was cleared of stealing from Randy California’s “Taurus,” but the appeals court found fault with the way the sensational jury trial was handled in the summer of 2016, including the judge’s order that the recording of the Spirit instrumental not be played in court.

The jury said the songs were not substantially similar.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected that verdict in a 3-0 decision issued Sept. 28.

Led Zeppelin’s songwriting ethics have been called into question over the decades. Millions of dollars are at stake in the copyright case brought by a trustee for the estate of Randy California, whose real name was Randy Wolfe.

The song in question is an atmospheric 3-minute instrumental on Spirit’s debut album, released in 1968. It was previously known mostly to Spirit fans. The global hit “Stairway to Heaven” debuted on Led Zeppelin’s fourth album, in 1971.

The suit alleged that defendants singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page copped the opening finger-picked section of “Taurus,” which was recorded in 1967. The jury was swayed by testimony that the descending chromatic four-chord progression was to be found throughout musical history and was hardly unique.

The appellate court said the trial judge erred in not telling jurors that a “sufficiently original combination” of common musical elements could be protected by copyright.

Spirit and Led Zeppelin both were regulars on the rock festival circuit in 1968 and 1969, and Jimmy Page has said he was an admirer of Spirit, known for incorporating jazz and Eastern influences in its sound. The first album was in Page’s record collection, although he maintained he had no idea how it got there.

The jury found that the Led Zeppelin frontmen had exposure to the Spirit song, but the two compositions did not have sufficient similarities to warrant a songwriting credit for California. The eight jurors asked to listen to both songs just before issuing their verdict. They only heard “Taurus” played on an acoustic guitar, however.

While there was no doubt the pair wrote the vast majority of the epic “Stairway,” Led Zeppelin long has been known for “borrowing” material for songs — primarily from blues and roots artists such as Willie Dixon. The judge, however, did not permit jurors to hear of the band’s history of disputed credits.

Tracks involved in past authorship controversies included “The Lemon Song,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “How Many More Times,” “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” and “Dazed and Confused.” In a few cases, song credits were changed after the original recordings. (Borrowing of song riffs and lyric lines has a long tradition in blues and folk music.)

The “Taurus” lawsuit was filed in May 2014, although the songs’ similarities long have been debated by rock fans. There were statute of limitations issues in the dispute, but California’s estate hitched its complaint to the 2014 reissue of Led Zeppelin’s album.

California drowned in Hawaii in 1997. He never brought suit in his lifetime, but went on the record about the songs’ similarities.

The self-titled “Spirit” debut album is No. 29 on this web site’s list of the best psychedelic albums.