Led Zeppelin did not plagiarise ‘Stairway To Heaven‘, jury rules

Led Zeppelin’s definitive song, Stairway To Heaven, was the band’s own work and not stolen from another composition, a jury ruled on Thursday.
The verdict, from an eight-member jury at Los Angeles district court, came at the finale of an eight-day trial in which Jimmy Page, Zeppelin’s guitarist, Robert Plant, the band’s singer, and John Paul Jones, the bass player, vigorously denied plagiarising the song from an instrumental track recorded by an American group, Spirit.
The jury’s verdict – following hours of evidence at which Led Zeppelin and Spirit members testified and both songs were played – was welcomed by Page and Plant, and by the Warner Music Group, which distributes the band’s albums.
‘We are grateful for the jury’s conscientious service and pleased that it has ruled in our favour, putting to rest questions about the origins of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and confirming what we have known for 45 years,’ the two musicians said in a joint statement. ‘We appreciate our fans’ support, and look forward to putting this legal matter behind us.’

This post was published at The Telegraph