Though Zeppelin were victorious after being taken to court for allegedly stealing parts of Spirit’s “Taurus”, a judge ruled Monday (Aug. 8) that Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (who are credited as “Stairway to Heaven” songwriters), along with the song’s publishing company, Warner/Chappell Music, were not entitled to be awarded almost $800,000 in legal fees.
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Wolfe’s trust had won been seeking credit for the song and millions of dollars in damages.
However, jurors found the tunes were not similar enough for Led Zeppelin to have violated the 1968 copyright protection of Taurus.
A federal judge has denied Led Zeppelin around £616,242 (800,000 USA dollars) in legal fees and other costs in their defence against claims that they stole a riff for the intro to Stairway To Heaven.
They argued the lawsuit was frivolous, it was meant to shake down the rock stars for money and that awarding defense costs would deter future meritless copyright claims.
The judge acknowledged that the band had succeeded at trial and had shown a right to compensation – but in the end it was up to his discretion, and he sided with Wolfe’s trustee.
“Throughout the course of litigation, plaintiff’s counsel demonstrated a tenuous grasp of legal ethics and a rudimentary understanding of courtroom decorum”, he wrote.
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“The lawsuit was objectively reasonable, and we are confident that any appeal will be successful”, Francis Malofiy told Rolling Stone.
