By Radio.com Staff
Led Zeppelin’s legal troubles may not be over just yet.
In June the band won a lawsuit claiming they lifted the intro to “Stairway to Heaven.”
Related: Jimmy Page Tells Court he Didn’t Steal ‘Stairway to Heaven’
The lawsuit, filed by the estate of late Spirit guitarist Randy California, claims that Zeppelin copied the opening of Spirit’s 1968 track “Taurus” for the beginning of their 1971 hit “Stairway to Heaven.” The estate filed the suit in 2014 over alleged similarities between the two songs.
Both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were called to to testify in the proceedings, each denied having heard the track, or copying it.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the jury believed Spirit did own the copyright to “Taurus,” and that the members of Led Zeppelin had heard it, but that “there was no substantial similarity in the extrinsic elements of ‘Taurus’ and ‘Stairway to Heaven.'”
Today, The Courthouse News Service reports that Michael Skidmore, the Trustee of California’s estate, has filed an appeal.
Skidmore and the estate are already facing legal action from the song’s publisher Warner/Chappell who are seeking close to $800,000 in legal fees for the costs of defending Zeppelin at trial.
