LED ZEPPELIN - “Stairway To Heaven” Writing Credit Trial Set For May 10th
April 1, 2016, 8 years ago
According to Nationallawjournal.com, Led Zeppelin face a May 10th trial over claims that they ripped off another artist to make the iconic song “Stairway To Heaven”.
Lawyers for Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones could go to trial after failing to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by the trustee of the late Randy Craig Wolfe, better known as Randy California of the band Spirit. Wolfe drowned off the coast of Hawaii in 1997, but a trustee for his estate has sued Led Zeppelin and the three band members, plus music publishers Super Hype Publishing Inc. and Warner Music Group Corp. The 2014 suit claims that Led Zeppelin, which opened for Spirit in the 1960s, copied a musical composition Wolfe wrote called “Taurus.”
“A lot of songs written by Led Zeppelin were written by other artists and other bands,” said the trustee’s attorney, Francis Malofiy of Francis Alexander. “They failed to give credit where credit was due.”
On March 23rd, both sides in the “Stairway to Heaven” case failed to settle the dispute. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner in Los Angeles has scheduled a trial but has yet to rule on a pending summary judgment motion.
Read more at Nationallawjournal.com.
