When the suit was brought, the band members were all in their 60s or 70s. The Led Zeppelin case demonstrates vulnerabilities that the statute of limitations and the laches doctrine leave open. Such circumstances currently remain ill-defined. Supreme Court has greatly curtailed the use of laches in the copyright litigation context, reserving laches for “extraordinary circumstances” ( Petrella v. The laches doctrine aims to prevent unreasonable delays that will adversely affect the opponent, such as in cases with “lost, stale, or degraded evidence, or witnesses whose memories have faded, or who have died” ( Evergreen Safety Council v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., 2014, Breyer, J., dissenting).Īnother legal doctrine-the doctrine of “laches”-might limit the time within which a party can bring suit. However, this three-year limitations period starts over with “each act of infringement.” In short, “f a defendant reproduces or sells an infringing work on a continuing basis, a plaintiff can sue every 3 years until the copyright term expires-which may be up to 70 years after the author’s death” ( Petrella v. How can a plaintiff bring suit after decades of inaction? Suits for copyright infringement are subject to a three-year statute of limitations. Likewise, such testimony is relevant to a critical defense in copyright infringement claims: that the work in question is the product of “independent creation.” A witness can speak to the song’s origins, the individuals involved, and other business dealings.
Witness testimony can be critically important to show whether the band had access to the copyrighted work. The suit alleged that Led Zeppelin band members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant stole the song’s iconic opening guitar riff from a 1968 song by Spirit called “Taurus.”Ĭopyright infringement is established when the plaintiff shows “(1) ownership of a valid copyright, and (2) copying of constituent elements of the work that are original.” Copying can be demonstrated by showing that two works “are substantially similar in their protected elements” and “that the infringing party had access to the copyrighted work” ( Rice v. Led Zeppelin had opened for another band, Spirit, in 1968.
Over four decades later, the band members were sued for copyright infringement ( Skidmore v.
The rock band Led Zeppelin wrote its famous “Stairway to Heaven” in early 1970 and released it to the public in 1971.