Led Zeppelin Trial: 5 Reasons Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Won

Legal experts break down the band’s victory in the “Stairway to Heaven” copyright case

led zeppelin robert plant jimmy page john paul jones john bonham

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant walked away triumphant on Thursday in a trial over whether their signature song “Stairway to Heaven” was stolen from the 1968 Spirit track “Taurus.”

How did the musicians clear their names in the case? Well, primarily, the eight-person jury found that the songs weren’t similar enough to constitute copyright infringement. But TheWrap took a deeper delve into the strategies and situations surrounding the trial, speaking to legal experts about the nitty-gritty of the proceedings.

Read on to find out how the group convinced the jury that the songs don’t sound similar enough to label Led Zeppelin music thieves.

1. Timing Is Everything
Led Zeppelin was sued in 2014 — decades after either song was released — by Michael Skidmore, the trustee of the Randy Craig Wolfe Trust. The trust is named after the Spirit frontman and “Taurus” composer, who performed under the name Randy California up until his death in 1997.

James Sammataro, an entertainment and intellectual property attorney with Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, told TheWrap that because Skidmore, not Wolfe, filed the lawsuit made him seem like “some money-hungry plaintiff.”

“Not having Randy makes it more faceless,” Sammataro said. “The plaintiff didn’t come in with the sympathy that sometimes a plaintiff comes in on.”

“It just strikes me as something that would create a level of suspicion on behalf of anyone looking at the case,” added Michael Elkin, a copyright and entertainment attorney with Winston & Strawn. “Why would someone, in this case a trustee, wait so many years if they had such an egregious claim?”

The passage of decades also has the potential to make recollections hazy, a situation that was certainly displayed in the “Stairway” trial.

“One of the reasons why you like to have a case presented and decided closer in proximity to the events is so that witnesses’ memories are crisp and the event can be recounted with a greater level of clarity,” Elkin said.

2. Jurors Weren’t Allowed to Hear “Taurus” as it Was Released
Skidmore was limited to relying on the “deposit copy” of “Taurus” that was filed for copyright for reference in the case, and deposit copies are a different animal than the sound recordings that eventually make their way to the public’s ears. That likely put the plaintiff at a disadvantage.

“You don’t even have a recording; it’s basically sheet music,” Elkin said. “When you hear the actual sound recordings, it sort of brings to life the actual works … It’s harder for a jury and for judges, for that matter, to really zero in on that slice of life.”

“The deposit copy is a very linear portrayal of a multi-layered piece of work,” Sammataro said. “They [the jury] really don’t hear the two works in their ‘natural environment.’”

3.Denial, Denial, Denial
Despite a heap of anecdotal evidence offered by the plaintiff that Led Zeppelin had access to “Taurus” — that Jimmy Page had the album it was on in his collection, that Zeppelin had performed on a number of the same concert bills as Spirit, that Zeppelin had covered “Fresh Garbage” (from the same album as “Taurus”), the band thoroughly denied hearing the song before writing “Stairway.”

While Sammataro said it was “potentially a gamble going in” for the group not to concede that it had access to the tune, ultimately it “turned out to be a really wise move.”

Sammataro noted that denying access to the tune and forcing the opposing side to try to prove access “shifted, a little bit, the focus of the trial” and created a “seed of doubt” in the jury’s mind. (In its verdict on Thursday, the jury ultimately determined that the group did have access to “Taurus.”)

4. Page and Plant Testimony Helped Seal the Deal
Despite Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant’s admittedly faulty memory, the group’s presence at the trial tipped the scales for the defense.

“I thought the band members, especially Page, acquitted themselves well on the stand,” Sammataro said. “Plant actually came off as fairly likable, at times they came off as charming.”

The star power that came with their testimony didn’t hurt either. “They’re celebrities, so they have a way of wooing crowds,” Sammataro continued.

“The artists are very charismatic, they carry with them a certain amount of star power, and when they’re on the witness stand they can be very magnetic and engaging,” Elkin added.

5. Michael Skidmore’s Lawyer Might Not Have Helped Matters
During the trial, plaintiff’s attorney Francis Malofiy made quite the impression, and not always a good one. On the first  day of the trial, Judge R. Gary Klausner warned him that he risked a possible mistrial, and on another day Klausner sustained dozens of objections against him. While that shouldn’t technically sway a jury’s opinion, it often can.

“The judge seemed a little bit annoyed with him, he skated the line on multiple occasions … that makes him a little more polarizing,” Sammataro said.

If such a perception alters a jury’s opinion, “that could spill over into the merits of your case,” he added.

“Those types of things do affect a jury,” Elkin added. “If they see that a trial lawyer is being excoriated (criticized) or being called to task for doing something improper, I think that forms an impression.”

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