'Stairway to Heaven' cleared by judge for trial in copyright case

Legendary rock band Led Zeppelin accused of stealing opening notes from Taurus, a song performed by Spirit

A trial is needed to determine if Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven copies its opening notes from a song performed by the rock band Spirit, a federal judge has ruled.

US District Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled on Friday that lawyers for the trustee of late Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe had shown enough evidence to support a case that Stairway to Heaven copies music from the Spirit song Taurus.