"Stairway to Heaven" case has been appealed...

dreadnut

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If 'Zeppelin ripped off anyone, it was the old Delta Blues guys - Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters...stole their songs and repackaged them.

And I'm a huge fan of LZ.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I still think this could be settled without too much more fuss by sitting everyone involved down, playing the beginning of Davy Graham's Cry Me A River (c. 1959), followed by the beginning of Taurus, followed by the beginning of Stairway. "Okay now, given that neither of the songwriters involved here (R. California, J. Page) can seriously claim to have originated the chordal/melodic figure in dispute, why don't y'all call it a day and go home."

-Dave-
 

walrus

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If 'Zeppelin ripped off anyone, it was the old Delta Blues guys - Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters...stole their songs and repackaged them.

And I'm a huge fan of LZ.

Although your point in general is correct, check out their song credits - this has been resolved.

walrus
 

walrus

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I still think this could be settled without too much more fuss by sitting everyone involved down, playing the beginning of Davy Graham's Cry Me A River (c. 1959), followed by the beginning of Taurus, followed by the beginning of Stairway. "Okay now, given that neither of the songwriters involved here (R. California, J. Page) can seriously claim to have originated the chordal/melodic figure in dispute, why don't y'all call it a day and go home."

-Dave-

Right! Also, see post #5 that Grot posted in the previous discussion of this - the link is above. They are not really that similar!

walrus
 

adorshki

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Right! Also, see post #5 that Grot posted in the previous discussion of this - the link is above. They are not really that similar!

walrus

Right.
Even as a loyal Spirit fan, I never thought it was close enough to be plagiarism.
Page might have been carrying around a "subconscious memory" of it from having heard it when Zep actually opened for Spirit during a leg of the '69 tour, but "Heaven" still came out with Page's melodic sense, distinctly different from California's.
And I think Page's progression/melody is actually prettier.
 

Westerly Wood

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i cannot think of a song that sounds like Stairway. the only part of Stairway I listen to is the solo. :)
 

Cougar

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It does sound as if the lawyer is driving the appeal and not the estate.

Appeals cost money and a lot of attorney time. Attorneys don't do anything without the client's consent. It wouldn't be wise to be overly optimistic about an appeal to the client unless there was an obvious, serious mistake made during the trial. But if a client wants to appeal, even on shaky grounds, most attorneys would take their money and do their best.

"[The appeal is filed] on the grounds that the verdict was the result of the jury receiving "erroneous" instructions."

That's fairly common grounds. But there better be solid case law supporting a claim that the client was wrongly prejudiced by the inclusion or exclusion of some jury instruction, and you have to show it would have made a difference in the verdict. Tough standard!
 

fronobulax

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Appeals cost money and a lot of attorney time. Attorneys don't do anything without the client's consent. It wouldn't be wise to be overly optimistic about an appeal to the client unless there was an obvious, serious mistake made during the trial. But if a client wants to appeal, even on shaky grounds, most attorneys would take their money and do their best.

OK. I imagined the following conversation had occurred prior to filing the appeal:

Attorney: The court made a lot of mistakes. I think we have a good chance at an appeal. Shall we?
Client: Whatever.

It's just my take on the way things were reported. If the estate were driving the appeal I would have expected more indignant language about the injustice of the original verdict and less about the technical issues that make the appeal feasible.

I also know, and this may just be the D.C. area, at least four or five ongoing litigations where the law firm is working Pro Bono or on speculation - "You don't pay us anything unless you win".

But yeah, I definitely got my exercise jumping to conclusions.
 

Cougar

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OK. I imagined the following conversation had occurred prior to filing the appeal:

Attorney: The court made a lot of mistakes. I think we have a good chance at an appeal. Shall we?


That very well could be. But you forgot the part where he says "I'll need another $10,000."
 

idealassets

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I was definitely into Led Zeppelin when they first came out. However I did notice a few definite plagarisms way back in 1969, although perhaps all in the name of the blues. The most notable being that the Lemon Song was a word for word, and also a song structure heist of this song (Except for LBJ at the start of the song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3NpefijqrY
 

walrus

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I was definitely into Led Zeppelin when they first came out. However I did notice a few definite plagarisms way back in 1969, although perhaps all in the name of the blues. The most notable being that the Lemon Song was a word for word, and also a song structure heist of this song (Except for LBJ at the start of the song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3NpefijqrY

See the post above voicing the same issue. Although your point in general is correct, check out their song credits - this has been resolved.

walrus
 

idealassets

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I see Led Zeppelin gave Chester Burnett a writing credit, one of 5 total. As I mentioned, all in the name of the blues I suppose, so we move on.
 
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