一桩摇滚神曲抄袭案 齐柏林飞艇赢了

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洛杉矶——它很长，它是经典，而且，这个星期四，法庭宣布它是原创的。

Led Zeppelin did not steal the opening riff of its rock anthem² “Stairway to Heaven,” a federal jury ruled here, giving the band a victory in a copyright case in which millions of dollars were at stake.

一个联邦陪审团宣判，“齐柏林飞艇”(Led Zeppelin)的摇滚名曲《通向天堂的阶梯》(Stairway to Heaven)当中前奏的乐段并不是抄袭而来，令乐队在危及数百万美元利益的版权诉讼案中获胜。

The case pitted an obscure song from the margins³ of rock history against one of the canonical⁴ hits of the genre⁵. The suit was filed two years ago by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the songs of Randy Wolfe, a member of the band Spirit. It contends that the Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant had lifted substantial portions of the Spirit song “Taurus,” from 1968, for the beginning of “Stairway to Heaven,” which was released in 1971 and, by some estimates, has earned more than $500 million.

这桩案件一头是来自摇滚史边缘的一首名不见经传的歌曲，另一头则是摇滚乐史上的经典名曲。两年前，“精神”(Spirit)乐队成员兰迪·伍尔夫(Randy Wolfe)歌曲版权的管理人迈克尔·斯基德莫尔(Michael Skidmore)发起了这场诉讼。它主张，“齐柏林飞艇”的成员吉米·佩奇(Jimmy Page)和罗伯特·普朗特(Robet Plant)剽窃了“精神”1968年的歌曲《金牛座》(Taurus)中的重要段落，用在他们1971年发行的《通向天堂的阶梯》开头，并且估计凭借这首歌赚取了多于五亿美元。

Mr. Wolfe died in 1997 and complained of the similarity in interviews but never brought a suit. The case was filed shortly after a Supreme⁶ Court ruling allowed copyright infringement⁷ cases to go forward even after long delays.

伍尔夫于1997年逝世，他曾在访谈中抱怨过两首歌的相似之处，但从未提起诉讼。这起诉讼是在最高法院做出裁决、开始受理长期延误的版权侵权案件之后不久提出的。

Lawyers for Mr. Skidmore presented evidence showing that the bands crossed paths while touring early in their careers, as well as testimony⁸ from music experts saying that both songs shared a similar chord progression and, most distinctively⁹, a descending¹⁰ bass¹¹ line in a chromatic¹² scale.

斯基德莫尔的律师们呈上证据，表明两支乐队在事业生涯早期的巡演途中曾经碰面，来自音乐专家的证词称，两首歌有共同的和弦走向，更明显的是，它们都有一条下行的半音音阶贝斯线。

Mr. Plant and Mr. Page both testified that “Stairway to Heaven” had been composed independently, and that while both bands had played on the same bill a handful of times, they did not recall ever seeing Spirit perform and had no familiarity with “Taurus” until the lawsuit¹³ was brought.

普朗特和佩奇都作证说，《通向天堂的阶梯》的作曲是独立完成的，尽管两支乐队曾经同台共同演过几次，他们都不记得看过“精神”的演出，在遭到诉讼之前，对《金牛座》这首歌也并不熟悉。

“I didn’t remember it then, and I don’t remember it now,” Mr. Plant said.

“我那时候不记得有这首歌，现在也不记得，”普朗特说。

The jury found that, although Mr. Page and Mr. Plant had access to “Taurus” before the release of “Stairway to Heaven,” the two songs’ original elements did not contain enough similarities. Before reaching the verdict on Thursday, the jury asked to listen to audio recordings¹⁴ of the introductions to both songs twice.

陪审团发现，尽管佩奇和普朗特在《通向天堂的阶梯》发行之前就有渠道听到《金牛座》，但两首歌的原创成分并不具备足够的相似性。在周四做出判决之前，陪审团两次要求聆听这两首歌曲前奏的录音。

“We are grateful for the jury’s conscientious¹⁵ service and pleased that it has ruled in our favor, putting to rest questions about the origins of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and confirming what we have known for 45 years,” Mr. Plant and Mr. Page said in a statement on Thursday.

“我们很感激陪审团认真的工作，也很高兴判决结果对我们有利，从而结束了对《通向天堂的阶梯》来源的质疑，证实了我们45年来确知的东西，”星期四，普朗特与佩奇在一份声明中说。

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Francis Malofiy, said an appeal was being considered.

原告律师弗朗西斯·马洛菲伊(Francis Malofiy)说，原告正在考虑上诉。

The statute¹⁶ of limitations for past copyright infringement is three years. The two sides presented widely different estimates of Led Zeppelin’s earnings¹⁷ from 2011 to 2014, when the case was filed.

已过去的版权侵权案的法定时效是三年。该案件立案时，双方对“齐柏林飞艇”自2011年至2014年的收入给出了相差甚远的估算。

Experts for the plaintiff pointed¹⁸ to a $60 million music publishing deal that Mr. Page and Mr. Plant signed with Warner Music and suggested that a large portion of that could be attributed to “Stairway.” But later in the trial, an accountant called by Led Zeppelin’s side put the amounts at $615,000 for Mr. Page and $532,000 for Mr. Plant.

原告方的专家指出，佩奇与普朗特与华纳音乐公司签署了一份带来6000万美元收益的音乐版权发行合同，并认为其中有一大部分应当归于《通向天堂的阶梯》名下。但随着案件发展，“齐柏林飞艇”一方找来的会计师称，该合同为佩奇带来61.5万美元收益，为普朗特带来53.2万美元收益。

The trial was the second major case in a year to involve copyright issues and the music industry, after Robin¹⁹ Thicke and Pharrell Williams were ordered to pay $5.3 million to the family of Marvin Gaye over their 2013 hit “Blurred Lines.” That case, which has been appealed, has led to a wide debate in the music world over the limits of copyright protection, and whether the musical elements of homage²⁰ — a song’s atmospherics, rhythms and overall “feel” — can cross the line into infringement.

这桩诉讼案是今年以来涉及版权问题与音乐产业的第二桩重大案件，上一桩是罗宾·西克(Robin Thicke)与法瑞尔·威廉姆斯(Pharrell Williams)被判决为他们2013年的金曲《模糊的线》(Blurred Lines)向马文·盖伊(Marvin Gaye)的家人支付530万美元。那桩案子正在上诉之中，也在音乐界激发了一场广泛的的讨论：版权保护究竟应当达到什么限度？一首歌中的氛围、节奏，以及整体“感觉”如果含有向其他音乐致敬的成分，那么是否构成侵犯版权？

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