British rock band Led Zeppelin missed a note over a lawsuit about one of their greatest hit, 'Stairway to Heaven'. The legendary group has lost a bid against the plaintiff to obtain further information in a copyright infringement claiming 'Stairway to Heaven' infringes on the Spirit song 'Taurus'.
All the surviving members of Led Zeppelin have all been probed in a complaint that alleges their song Stairway to Heaven was stolen from one of the Spirit band's mystic song. John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page were deposed individually over the past month as part of the pretrial investigation in the copyright infringement case, as reported by The Wrap.
In a document submitted to the court, the band acknowledged playing together with the Spirit in a concert but denied each and every allegation filed against them. The court also rejected Led Zeppelin's request to have the case dismissed on jurisdiction grounds shortly after the lawsuit was filed. In 2015, the band's lawyers requested the Internal Revenue Service documentation proving the Randy Craig Wolfe trust's validity. The Spirit's legal team called such motion an irrelevant and unduly burdensome and a pure fishing expedition, as reported by Contact Music.
According to Bloomberg, many music listeners agree that Stairway to Heaven's opening sounds a lot like Taurus, and instrumental piece released on Spirit's debut album back in 1968. It has been known that throughout 1969, Led Zeppelin and Spirit shared the stage together at several concerts.
On Friday, US Judge Alicia G. Rosenberg sided with plaintiff Michael Skidmore, a trustee of Wolfe's trust. Rosenberg found that Led Zeppelin did not explain the relevance of the requested documents to the ownership inquiry. Meanwhile, Spirit's legal team is aiming to prevent the future release of the remastered Led Zeppelin IV album until their client receives proper credit for the song, which Stairway to Heaven.
