How Appealing



Monday, March 9, 2020

“Led Zeppelin Ruling Topples Kozinski Precedent, and Maybe His Copyright Case, Too; The court ruled en banc that the inverse-ratio rule, in particular, a formulation from former Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski that made substantial similarity very easy to prove, should be discarded”: Scott Graham of The Recorder has this report.

Posted at 10:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“The National Injunction Arrives at the Supreme Court; A Bagley-Bray amicus brief in Trump v. Pennsylvania”: Samuel Bray has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Posted at 9:07 PM by Howard Bashman



“Led Zeppelin did not steal ‘Stairway to Heaven’ riff, court rules”: Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle reports that “Led Zeppelin wins appeal in ‘Stairway to Heaven’ copyright suit — no ‘substantial similarity.’

Ben Sisario of The New York Times reports that “Led Zeppelin Prevails in ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Appeal; The court upheld a jury’s verdict that the band did not copy the opening to its classic 1971 hit from another band, Spirit.”

Anne Steele of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Led Zeppelin Is Cleared in ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Case; Appeals court says British rock group didn’t steal the open from an obscure single by the band Spirit.”

Andrew Dalton of The Associated Press reports that “Zeppelin wins latest battle of the bands in ‘Stairway’ fight.”

Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports that “Led Zeppelin prevails in appeal over ‘Stairway to Heaven’ riff.”

Edvard Pettersson of Bloomberg News reports that “Led Zeppelin Prevails in Second ‘Stairway’ Appeals Decision.”

Gwen Aviles of NBC News reports that “Led Zeppelin wins ‘Stairway to Heaven’ copyright dispute; The copyright battle dates to 2014, when the estate of Spirit frontman Randy Wolfe sued Led Zeppelin.”

Gene Maddaus of Variety reports that “Led Zeppelin Scores Big Win in ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Copyright Case.”

Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone reports that “A New Led Zeppelin Court Win Over ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Just Upended a Copyright Precedent; Ninth Circuit Court rejects longstanding copyright precedent known as ‘inverse ratio rule’ in case over Spirit’s ‘Taurus’ versus Hall of Fame band.”

At the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “Led Zeppelin Wins ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Copyright Fight Upon Appellate Replay.”

And on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Andrew Limbong had an audio segment titled “Led Zeppelin Wins Copyright Dispute Over ‘Stairway To Heaven.’

You can access today’s ruling of an 11-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 8:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Democratic male judges may be headed for extinction in Texas. The cause? Voters. Women got more votes than men in all of the roughly 30 gender-split primary contests for high court, court of appeals and district court. Rarely was it even close.” Emma Platoff of The Texas Tribune has a report that begins, “In Democratic judicial primaries last Tuesday, Dayna beat David, Jane trounced Jim, and Colleen got more support than John, David and Brennen combined. Is that all there was to it?”

Posted at 12:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Alaska Supreme Court chief justice recuses himself from Gov. Dunleavy’s recall case”: Nathaniel Herz of Alaska Public Media recently had this report.

Posted at 12:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“As Supreme Court considers abortion, light more candles for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s health”: This editorial appears in today’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Posted at 12:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“A Deepened Split on the Scope of Remand Appeals; In Baltimore’s climate-change litigation, the Fourth Circuit deepened the split on the scope of appeals from remand orders”: Bryan Lammon has this post at his “final decisions” blog.

Posted at 12:33 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court Has a Special ‘Friend’: The Justice Department; A new study questions the court’s practice of automatically granting argument time to the solicitor general as a ‘friend of the court.'” Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

You can access via SSRN Darcy Covert and A.J. Wang‘s article titled “The Loudest Voice at the Supreme Court: The Solicitor General’s Dominance of Amicus Oral Argument.”

Posted at 10:44 AM by Howard Bashman