Led Zeppelin ‘Stairway to Heaven’ copyright suit appealed

Rock band Led Zeppelin may have won the copyright battle over their song “Stairway to Heaven” at the US District Court for the Central District of California, but they haven’t won the war.

Michael Skidmore, on behalf of the late Spirit band member Randy Craig Wolfe (‘Randy California’), has filed an appeal against the decision at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Back in 2014, Skidmore claimed that “Stairway to Heaven” infringed Spirit’s song “Taurus”.

Skidmore, who manages a trust set up in California’s name, sought more than $40 million in damages and requested that California be credited.

In July last year, an eight-member jury sided with Led Zeppelin.

However, the band’s publisher Warner/Chappell lost its request for $800,000 in damages because the band and Warner/Chappell had failed to prove that the lawsuit was frivolous.

In the latest development, Skidmore’s attorney filed an appeal on Wednesday, March 15, arguing that the court had made several “evidentiary errors” and “erroneously” instructed the jury.

According to the filing, the most important of these errors was the court’s refusal to let the jury hear the full and complete composition of “Taurus” embodied in the sound recordings that Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin’s guitarist, possessed.

Instead, the jury was limited to a “comparison to an outline of the ‘Taurus’ composition in the deposit copy lead sheet”.

“This was highly prejudicial and requires reversal,” said the claim.

It went on to argue that the court gave a series of “erroneous” instructions on the scope of copyright protection.

Skidmore is seeking a reversal of the previous verdict and a retrial.

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