The jury was finalised on June 14, after seven of the first 14 possible jurors were dismissed.
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The pair appeared at the opening of a trial in a federal court case prompted by allegations that the song was a copy of Taurus, composed by the late Randy Wolfe and recorded by his band Spirit.
Attorneys for the trustee contend that 1971’s “Stairway to Heaven” copies music from the Spirit song “Taurus”, which Wolfe wrote in either 1966 or 1967.
As the room filled with the familiar strains of Stairway to Heaven, Jimmy Page leaned back and closed his eyes, his head nodding gently as he listened to his own performance and to the vocals of his bandmate Robert Plant, seated beside him at the front of the court.
Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant appeared in court yesterday to deny accusations that they “lifted” the opening bars to iconic rock song Stairway to Heaven.
Trial in the case is set to begin on Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles, Marc Landis, a managing partner at the firm of Phillips Nizer which is representing Led Zeppelin, said in an email. Both sported long gray hair and Page wore a three-piece suit.
Malofiy showed videos of guitar interpretations of both songs, which sounded more alike. When played simultaneously, similarities and differences could be seen and heard.
Malofiy said Wolfe’s work formed the basis for the riff that made the song a hit that is still widely played.
The legal case, he said, will hinge on only comparing the sheet music for the “Taurus” song with “Stairway to Heaven”. She said her brother’s band Spirit played the song at nearly every show of his that she attended from the Whisky A-Go-Go to the Fillmore in San Francisco.
“It’s a well-used musical device”.
“And the guys made millions of bucks on it and never said ‘Thank you, ‘ never said, ‘Can we pay you some money for it?’ It’s kind of a sore point with me”.
But the jury deciding the fate of the rock masterpiece – and its millions of dollars in royalties – won’t hear a simple mash-up with the obscure 1968 instrumental Taurus by the group Spirit.
Judge Klausner ruled in April that there was potential for a jury to find a “substantial” similarity between the two recordings and approved the case. One song was Stairway To Heaven. California, who died in 1997, played guitar for the band Spirit, whose song “Taurus” features a guitar riff similar to “Stairway to Heaven”‘s famous plucking intro.
The lawsuit was filed by friends and family of the late Randy Craig Wolfe, known as Randy California while in Spirit.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Stairway To Heaven had earned $562m (£334m) as of 2008. Malofiy said the estate was able to sue after a 2014 change in the law allowed suing for continued copyright infringement.
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Today eight jurors – four men and four women of differing ages, races and backgrounds – were selected and were told to expect a four to five day trial.
