Theft in the music industry? Shocking

Emily Babay has the story at Philly.com:

Did Led Zeppelin steal the opening to Stairway to Heaven, one of the most popular rock songs of all time, from another band? A Philadelphia lawyer may soon be taking the group to court for a ruling on the matter. Supporters of Randy California, the late guitarist for the group Spirit, have claimed for years that Led Zepplin lifted the tune's opening from the Spirit song Taurus (video, above).
Philadelphia attorney Francis Alexander Malofiy is working on the potential suit with Mark Andes, Spirit's founding bassist, and the trust that handles royalties for California, who died in 1997. Malofiy told Bloomberg Businessweek that he intends to file a copyright-infringement lawsuit and seek an injunction against the upcoming rerelease of the Led Zeppelin album that contains the song (the group plans to release deluxe and other editions of its albums starting next month). "The idea behind this is to make sure that Randy California is given a writing credit on Stairway to Heaven,' the attorney said. "It's been a long time coming."
Reached this morning, Malofiy said he was pressed for time and could not immediately comment.
Andes told the news organization that he only recently noticed the similarities between "Taurus" and "Stairway." "The clarity seems to be a present-day clarity, not at the time of infringement. I can’t explain it. It is fairly blatant, and note for note," he said. "It would just be nice if the Led Zeppelin guys gave Randy a little nod. That would be lovely."
A guitar line in Taurus does sound similar to the opening of Stairway, and Andes says he believes Stairway writer Jimmy Page and other members of Led Zeppelin heard the song when the group opened for Spirit in Denver, Colorado in December of 1968. The two bands also played together several times the next year.
California did not make plagiarism allegations publicly for decades but, in 1997, called the song a "ripoff" to Listener magazine.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, California, his family, and Spirit also haven't had the resources for a legal challenge. But Malofiy has been representing Andes on other issues and says he is handling the case on contingency.
The three-year statute of limitations in copyright-infringement cases is often read as only limiting back loyalties to three years. Stairway is one of the most profitable songs in music history, so even royalties from only recent sales could yield considerable sums.
Malofiy is also representing a songwriter in a copyright lawsuit filed against Usher in Federal court in Philadelphia over credit for the R&B singer's song Bad Girl.

Rico says there's nothing worse than a lawyer who's found his niche...

PhillyMediaWatcher has left a new comment on your post:
Speaking of theft, you stole this entire story from Philly.com. Loser...

Rico says this is why he forces non-anonymous commenting; but the guy obviously missed the whole accreditation (which Rico always supplies) to the source...