‘Stairway to Heaven’ didn’t infringe, says high court

"Stairway to Heaven," one of the most famous songs in rock history, did not infringe the song of another band, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded.

Aside from the fact the case involves Led Zeppelin as a defendant, it was closely watched in the music industry, which has seen a series of copyright infringement lawsuits against prominent performers over famous songs.

The high court denied a certiorari petition by Michael Skidmore, trustee of the Randy Craig Wolfe Trust, challenging a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in March affirming a district judge's ruling for Led Zeppelin.

Wolfe was the lead singer of the band Spirit, which toured with Led Zeppelin. The lawsuit claimed the opening riff of "Stairway to Heaven" infringed a Spirit song, "Taurus."

In 2016, a Los Angeles jury ruled in favor of Led Zeppelin. The plaintiff's attorney, Francis A. Malifoy, successfully appealed the decision to a 9th Circuit panel based on jury instruction errors by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner of the Central District of California.

The panel sent the case back for a new trial.

But Led Zeppelin's attorneys, led by Peter J. Anderson of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, sought en banc review.

The en banc panel -- in a majority opinion written by 9th Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, an appointee of President Bill Clinton -- sided with Led Zeppelin in a March ruling, concluding Klausner's jury instructions were not erroneous.

The case is Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin et al., 20-142 (S. Ct, filed Aug. 6, 2020).

-- Craig Anderson