BACK DOWN THE STAIRWAY

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last week vacated a 2016 jury verdict finding that Led Zeppelin’s classic “Stairway to Heaven” didn’t infringe on the copyright to the Spirit song “Taurus.”

The Court of Appeals found that the trial court gave erroneous jury instructions on the issues of “substantial similarity” and “originality.” You can read the decision here.

That is all well and good. But I am more interested in my readers’ response to this simple question – do you think the two songs sound alike? Here’s “Stairway” and here’s “Taurus.”

Send me a message on LinkedIn with your responses. I’m really curious.