Lawyers for Wolfe say Page and Plant wrote Stairway To Heaven after hearing their client play Taurus, and that he should be given a writing credit.
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“Stairway to Heaven was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and them alone, period”, Anderson said.
While musical experts not involved in the case have said the two are similar, they have also said the sequence is common and has appeared in other pieces from decades and even centuries ago.
But surviving members of Led Zeppelin submitted testimony to the court that they never had substantive interaction with Spirit or listened to the band’s music. While Page and Plant are “incredible musicians” and “incredible performers”, Malofiy says they’re not songwriters and became famous by covering other bands’ music and making it their own.
The band’s guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant are named as defendants in the lawsuit brought by the trustee of late guitarist Randy Wolfe from the band Spirit. Another Spirit track, “Fresh Garbage”, was part of a medley Led Zeppelin performed at live shows, according to Malofiy.
The trial began with Skidmore’s attorney Malofiy laying the foundation showing the jury Plant and Page had ample opportunities to hear Wolfe’s song “Taurus”. Generations of aspiring guitarists have tried to copy the riff from Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”.
While U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner has banned laptops, cell phones, and pens in his courtroom, Billboard reported that two violators had to be removed.
“When you hear those first iconic notes of ‘Stairway to Heaven, ‘ it’s instantly recognisable”, said Mr Malofiy.
This “unprofessional” behaviour has also been present in this “Stairway to heaven” case with a complete disregard for the rules of the trial.
But Judge Klausner, in his decision in April, said a jury could find “substantial” similarity between the first two minutes of “Stairway” and “Taurus”. He said he thought the US debut was to open for Vanilla Fudge, also on the bill, who he said were “great heroes of ours”.
Multi-instrumentalist Jay Ferguson, 69, who played with Spirit and later wrote music for film and television, described Taurus as a “really special number”. California drowned in 1997 while rescuing his son from a rip current while on holiday in Hawaii and the royalties from his music career are now collected by a trust.
Skidmore, Page and Plant are scheduled to testify, along with Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones, Spirit bassist Mark Andes and music producer Lou Adler.
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Last year Marvin Gaye’s family won a .4m award against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for infringing on Gaye’s Got to Give It Up in their song Blurred Lines.
