Finally, it seems like the Led Zeppelin plagiarism case has gone away. To quickly catch-up, Led Zeppelin was sued over their 1971 hit "Stairway to Heaven" for sounding too similar to Spirit's 1968 track "Taurus". The case originally ended in 2016, though representatives of Spirit wanted a wider panel of judges to hear the songs and make a ruling. That happened earlier this year and the ruling remained in favor of Led Zeppelin.
Then in August of this year, the estate of "Taurus" songwriter Randy "California" Wolfe filed a petition asking the United States Supreme Court to step in and take another look at the case. According to the Chicago Tribune, they've now said they won't. So finally, we can stop reporting on this ridiculous case. Especially considering there really aren't any major similarities between "Taurus" and "Stairway to Heaven".
The ruling is also a significant win for the music industry, which has felt itself fighting a losing battle against frivolous copyright suits since the “Blurred Lines” trial in 2015. The court overturned the so-called “inverse ratio rule,” a precedent that has governed copyright cases in the 9th Circuit for the last 43 years.
Watch a comparison of the two songs below and you'll see.
