Michael Skidmore has been seeking royalties from Jimmy Page and Robert Plant since 2014, accusing them of infringing Spirit's 'Taurus' to create their rock anthem.
- Mar 10, 2020
AceShowbiz - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have won another decision in their long-running legal spat with the trustee of songwriter Randy Wolfe (Randy California) over rock anthem "Stairway to Heaven".
Michael Skidmore has been chasing the Led Zeppelin stars for royalties since 2014, claiming they infringed Spirit star Wolfe's "Taurus" to create "Stairway to Heaven".
Lawmakers handed a court victory to the band in 2016 but Skidmore appealed the decision and scored a retrial last year.
But now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed that ruling, insisting the original verdict was the correct one and Led Zeppelin are not guilty of copyright infringement.
"The trial and appeal process has been a long climb up the Stairway to Heaven," the new verdict concludes. "The parties and their counsel have acquitted themselves well in presenting complicated questions of copyright law. We affirm the judgment that Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' did not infringe Spirit's 'Taurus'."
