Jimmy Page worked on the music for “Stairway” for years. Robert Plant wrote the lyrics in minutes.
I think Page borrowed a little from Spirit, but not enough to qualify as copyright infringement. So the jury got it right. But I think it’s undeniable - and I say this as a huge Zeppelin fan - that there are many Zep tunes that were more than borrowed. “Dazed and Confused” was not a Zeppelin tune, for example. It is one of my favorites (especially live), but it was stolen.
