Led Zeppelin Wins “Stairway to Heaven” Plagiarism Case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the long-running copyright battle over Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” The lawsuit alleged that the iconic opening instrumental riff in 1971’s “Stairway to Heaven” was lifted from Spirit’s 1968 song “Taurus.” The Supreme Court justices denied a petition aimed at reviving the case, ending six years of litigation that claimed the song’s writers, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, plagiarized the song’s iconic intro from the 1968 song “Taurus” by the (great San Francisco rock) group Spirit.