What the Stairway to Heaven Jury Didn't Hear

When the lawsuit over Stairway to Heaven's authorship went to trial on June 14, it held the promise of resolving one of those debates music nerds had over album racks in (the few remaining) record shops: Did Led Zeppelin steal the opening notes of their epic 1971 ballad from an obscure band named Spirit? For fans on either side, how satisfying would it be to have an eight-person jury in Los Angeles federal court finally put the question to rest?

As the trial took shape, it became clear that supporters on neither side would get the full airing they'd hoped for. Thanks to a law dating to 1909, the album recording of Stairway would be compared only with the sheet music of the 1968 Spirit release, Taurus, as played by musical experts hired by each side. A week and a half later, Led Zeppelin won. The jury found that Stairway isn't substantially similar to Taurus. Or rather, that it isn't substantially similar to the one-page, handwritten “deposit copy” of Taurus found in a Washington copyright office.