Jimmy Page, left, and Robert Plant appear at a news conference in London in 2012. — AP

Led Zeppelin may have won the copyright war over its creation of “Stairway to Heaven,” but it lost its battle Monday to recoup nearly $800,000 in defense fees. Judge R Gary Klausner ruled that the band’s songwriters, record label and associated companies were not entitled to legal fees and other costs because the copyright lawsuit against them was not frivolous.

A Los Angeles federal jury in June found that guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant did not lift the introduction of “Stairway” from an obscure instrumental written by the late Randy Wolfe, founder of the band Spirit. The trust for Wolfe, better known as Randy California, claimed Page and Plant were familiar with his work and stole a riff from the short tune “Taurus” that repeats throughout the first two minutes of their classic 1971 rock anthem.

Wolfe’s trust had been seeking credit for the song and millions in damages. But jurors found the tunes were not similar enough for Led Zeppelin to have violated the 1968 copyright protection of “Taurus.”— AP