A Jury Will Decide If 'Stairway To Heaven' Borrowed From Spirit Song

Led Zeppelin (www.patgillen.com)

A jury will decide whether the opening riffs of LED ZEPPELIN's classic "Stairway to Heaven" was lifted from the 1968 SPIRIT song, "Taurus."

CNN reports, "ZEPPELIN's lead singer ROBERT PLANT and guitarist JIMMY PAGE, the hit song's composers, will face a copyright trial after a U.S. district judge in LOS ANGELES ruled FRIDAY that the plaintiff had made a strong enough case in its claim of copyright infringement to send the matter to a jury."

The lawsuit was brought by a trustee for the estate of the late RANDY WOLFE, also known as RANDY CALIFORNIA , of the group SPIRIT.

"The suit claims that the arpeggiated guitar introduction to 'Stairway to Heaven' -- widely viewed as one of the all-time great classic rock songs since its release in 1971 -- infringed on the copyright of the instrumental "Taurus," released on SPIRIT's debut album three years earlier," notes CNN.

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