Led Zeppelin has won the copyright case as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict finding his song "Stairway to Heaven" did not infringe on the 1968 song "Taurus."
In the historic ruling, the court overturned the "inverse ratio rule," a precedent that has governed copyright cases in the 9th Circuit for the last 43 years.
The verdict is also a being considered a significant win for the music industry, which has felt itself fighting a losing battle against frivolous copyright suits since the "Blurred Lines" trial in 2015.
To prove copyright infringement, a plaintiff must show that the alleged infringer had access to the plaintiff’s work, and that the two works are 'substantially similar.'
The appeals court, in overturning the rule, noted that the idea of 'access' has become diluted in the digital age, as millions of works are readily available on Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify. The court also held that the rule has the effect of establishing a lower burden of proof for infringement of popular works.
The court also pushed back on the claims of similarity in the Led Zeppelin case, in an opinion that should hearten critics of the “Blurred Lines” decision.
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