Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant said the origins of Stairway To Heaven had been put “to rest” after a jury found they did not plagiarise the song’s famous guitar intro.
The veteran rock stars were accused of “lifting” the opening guitar section of their 1971 hit – one of the world’s most recognisable rock songs – from an instrumental track called Taurus by the American band Spirit.
A lawsuit was filed by Michael Skidmore, the trustee of Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe – known as Randy California – who drowned in 1997 having never taken legal action over the song.
Following a week-long trial in Los Angeles, a jury found that Taurus and Stairway To Heaven were not “extrinsically similar”.
Lawyers for Mr Wolfe’s trust had asked for him to be given a third credit for Stairway To Heaven, which has earned millions of pounds since it featured on the album Led Zeppelin IV.
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