Anderson said that his clients Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were both unfamiliar with the band Spirit, nor with their song “Taurus”. “It wasn’t written originally in 1968” when “Taurus” was released. In addition, Skidmore, Anderson said in court papers, does not have the right to sue because Wolfe didn’t even own the rights himself to his own song at the time of his death.
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An attorney for guitarist Page and singer Robert Plant told the eight-person jury during opening statements in Los Angeles federal court that the chord progression in Wolfe’s song is common and found in songs dating to the 1600s and that other similarities also exist.
The two artists, dressed in black suits, arrived to a throng of reporters at Los Angeles federal court, where a jury of four men and four women was selected ahead of opening arguments in the high-profile case.
Page, Plant and their band mate John Paul Jones are all expected to testify at the trial, though Jones had been dismissed as a defendant in the case.
Led Zeppelin have been accused of plagiarism before, and have settled out of court on claims they borrowed other musicians’ work on their songs Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, Whole Lotta Love and Dazed and Confused. He also argues that evidence shows the descending chromatic line has been a “commonplace” feature of songs since the 1600s, noting that Spirit failed to credit “Michelle” by The Beatles on “Taurus”. Anderson then played a recording of a piano interpretation of “Taurus” that had only a vague similarity.
“‘Stairway to Heaven’ was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and them alone”. Under cross examination, Ferguson admitted it was not usual for one band to cover another’s songs and while Spirit and Zeppelin had played several festivals together his memory was hazy about whether they had played on the same days.
Regardless of motive, both parties face a lengthy legal climb over the coming weeks to determine the true origins of “Stairway to Heaven”, but it remains undetermined how this will impact the song’s overall legacy.
US District Judge Gary Klausner ruled in April that “Stairway to Heaven” bore “substantial” similarities with “Taurus” after Michael Skidmore, a trustee for California, filed a lawsuit alleging that Page had been inspired to write his hit after touring with Spirit in the late Sixties.
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Led Zeppelin appreciated Spirit “on an intimate level” and played a cover of the “pioneering” United States band’s single Fresh Garbage 16 times at their concerts, Mr Malofiy said. The Fox News report says that “Stairway to Heaven” “has generated hundreds of millions over the years”. 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.
