Led Zeppelin Prevails in Second ‘Stairway’ Appeals Decision
- Ruling rejects argument based on common musical elements
- Music industry had feared a flood of lawsuits if Zeppelin lost
Led Zeppelin won’t face a second trial over allegations the group stole part of its 1971 classic “Stairway to Heaven” from an obscure instrumental track by a 1960s California band.
In a rare so-called en banc decision Monday, 11 judges of the federal court of appeals in San Francisco let stand a 2016 jury verdict in favor of Led Zeppelin. A smaller panel of the same appeals court had previously thrown out the verdict after finding jurors had received faulty instructions from the trial judge.