Is "Stairway to Heaven" a ripoff? U.S. jury to decide

A U.S. jury will decide if Robert Plant and Jimmy Page cribbed the iconic opening melody of "Stairway to Heaven," NBC reports.

Credit: Jennifer Brett

Credit: Jennifer Brett

The scheduled May 10 trial follows a suit filed in Los Angeles by the trustee for the late Randy Wolfe, a guitarist for a band called Spirit. He was the composer for a piece called "Taurus." Check it out .. sound familiar?

"The defendants said Wolfe was a songwriter-for-hire who had no copyright claim, and that the chord progressions were so clichéd that they did not deserve copyright protection.

But the judge said a jury could find "substantial" similarity between the first two minutes of "Stairway" and "Taurus," which he called "arguably the most recognizable and important segments" of the songs."

Indeed, while a jury will decide whether "Stairway's" opening chords were a clip job, it's hard to argue whether they're anything less than recognizable:

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