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Led Zepplin Sued over Stairway to Heaven

On the other side of this coin, I have Sirius Deep Tracks on at home, and they are playing Taurus by Spirit, though I didn't know it at first.

I definitely hear the part they're talking about. I actually thought I was hearing some alternate acoustic version of Stairway for a few seconds.
 
There's a twist here that I wasn't aware of.

Los Angeles federal judge R. Gary Klausner has delayed trial of a copyright-infringement lawsuit involving LED ZEPPELIN's iconic rock anthem "Stairway to Heaven" until June 14th.
As previously reported, lawyers suing members of Led Zeppelin say their client is willing to settle a lawsuit over the band's most famous song - a claim potentially worth millions of dollars - for just $1. The catch is that band members Robert Plant and Jimmy Page would have to give deceased rocker Randy California a writing credit on the iconic 1971 rock ballad "Stairway To Heaven".
A jury will decide whether Led Zeppelin borrowed the opening licks of "Taurus", which was recorded by Randy California's band Spirit.
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Arrrrgggh said:
Whether or not they did steal from someone else, I don't see how this has made it to court at all. It has to be way past any statute of limitation that would be applicable. I know the statutes for copyright infringement has the silly "starting with when you discover it" clause built in, but there's no way anyone who held the rights to the alleged material can claim they were completely oblivious to something like Stairway to Heaven all the way til now. And if they can, what the hell is the point of there being a statute of limitation for it at all?
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I looked into this a little more. Every time the song is distributed, it's considered a renewal of the violation (or something like that). So if this occurred within the "statute of limitation" period going backward from this point in time, then a claim can still be made.
Kail said:
"For instance, a couple of Beach Boys songs clearly re-work or incorporate Chuck Berry material."

The difference being the Beach Boys acknowledged and credited Berry from the very beginning.
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Not at first... only after threat of lawsuit from Berry and/or his publisher.

Kor
 
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The whole "Stairway"/"Taurus" thing is nowhere near as egregious as some of Zeppelin's thefts, such as putting their name to the entire song (music and lyrics) of Moby Grape's "Never" and retitling it "Since I've Been Loving You".
 
I wonder if part of the defense was that Randy never made any claims of plagiarism in all the years he was alive.
 
I've heard it explained that the chord progression is common enough. An example was used comparing the Taurus song and Stairway to Mary Poppin's Chim Chim Cher-ee. As crazy as that comparison sounds, I could actually see their point.
 
...and Dido's Lament by Purcell, apparently, is another example of a descending chromatic minor line progression. I don't hear the similarity myself but then I'm tone deaf.

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