Unless I misunderstood the news report just now, it sounds like the jury found in favor of Led Zeppelin, and against Spirit, in the STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN/TAURUS "plagiarism" case.
Personally, I'm happy about it, as I saw it as a silly and frivolous lawsuit. But I could be wrong...
It was a little damning to hear that LZ had performed with Spirit when "Taurus" was a regular staple. After 50 years, though, you'd be hard pressed to sell plagiarism to a jury without some mammoth evidence behind you. Like the James bond theme suit, way too much had passed for the facts to stand clear.
Yeah, half-a-century is a little ridiculous. Especially for a song that's been right-out-front all along. It's not like "Stairway..." and Led Zeppelin were obscure or anything, and Spirit just became aware of them.
There should be some kind of reasonable Statute of Limitations (or whatever the legal term is for civil matters) on things like this....
There should be some kind of reasonable Statute of Limitations (or whatever the legal term is for civil matters) on things like this....
That was the least of the problems. The lawsuit was ridiculous because it failed to acknowledge the difference between core composition and arrangement.
I'm a big fan of both songs and have heard them both innumerable times, but never thought of them as particularly related. The intro sections both feature a sequence of slow-paced guitar arpeggios, but then I suspect if one wanted to spend the time it would be possible to identify any number of songs featuring same. Much ado, as they say. Seems like a nice try at a big payday by the money-grubbing "estate" (hungry relatives of Randy Wolfe who themselves have no talent and who contributed exactly zero to the fortunes of Spirit).
