Regardless of whether or not you’re a fan of legendary rock band Led Zeppelin, there’s a good chance you’ve heard their classic song “Stairway to Heaven” at some point in your life.

It may have been on the radio or someone attempting (and failing) to adequately perform the number while learning to play the guitar.

The piece of music is so well known and associated with the British rockers that it seems unfathomable that anyone else could take credit for it.

However, Led Zeppelin is being sued more than forty years after the release of “Stairway To Heaven” over allegedly stealing a portion of the music from a lesser known group.

To some music fans, this copyright-infringement lawsuit is long overdue as some have been saying for years that the gentle melody that flows throughout the song is taken directly from “Taurus” by the California-based band Spirit.

While the songs aren’t exactly the same, it’s hard not to argue that the melody for a portion of the song is not the EXACT same as what you hear in “Stairway to Heaven”. In fact it is because “Stairway” is so famous that it’s easy to hear it in Taurus’s song.

Front man Randy California and bassist Mark Andes are both deceased, but their trusts have joined together to file the suit ahead of the re-release of the song.

The two bands did cross paths during the late 1960s, at a point where Spirit had already started performing the instrumental tune. So it’s very possible that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant put words to someone else’s music and jazzed it up a bit before putting it on Led Zeppelin IV.

'Stairway to Heaven' leads to copyright-infringement lawsuit over 40 years later: http://t.co/eTVqFTFweL pic.twitter.com/Mj1oKYUyAd

— NBC12 WWBT Richmond (@NBC12) May 21, 2014

Some music fans will let their bias cloud their judgement. After all, no one wants to think that a band they’ve admired for decades stole any of their hits from anybody.

However, this isn’t the first time that Led Zeppelin has been accused of plagiarizing from other artists and not awarding credit or profits.

#LedZeppelin accused of using another band's music in 1971 hit Stairway To Heaven http://t.co/Oz2560d4gQ pic.twitter.com/kge3tfaXqA

— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 21, 2014

Depending on how the courts rule, this could prove the first time they’re forced to do so.

Image via YouTube