JIMMY PAGE And ROBERT PLANT Will Attend 'Stairway To Heaven' Court Procedings

May 25, 2016

According to The Pulse Of Radio, the lawyer for Robert Plant and Jimmy Page in the alleged "Stairway To Heaven" copyright case is snapping back at the plaintiff's legal team. Page and Plant are defending themselves in a U.S. Federal court jury trial after being sued by Michael Skidmore, the trustee of the Randy Craig Wolfe Trust, on behalf of the late SPIRIT guitarist who wrote "Taurus" and performed under the name Randy California. The trust is hoping to not only win a monetary judgment, but also secure a writing credit for California on "Stairway To Heaven", which the trust claims Page and Plant lifted key portions of for "Stairway To Heaven".

Billboard reported that the ZEPPELIN members' attorney stated in an opposition brief filed on Tuesday (May 24): "Plaintiff's motion is a PR stunt in the hope of tainting the jury pool. Despite being told that Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones fully intend to appear at the trial, plaintiff’s counsel misrepresented to the Court at the April 25, 2016 Pretrial Conference that Messrs. Page, Plant and Jones 'are refusing to appear in this court in the claims against them,' and plaintiff’s counsel repeated that misrepresentation to news cameras on the Courthouse steps, causing a flurry of press reports repeating plaintiff’s false accusation. When those reports died down, plaintiff triggered renewed reports of his misrepresentation by now filing a belated motion that is so devoid of merit it can only be seen as playing to the press."

Both Page and Plant have already sat for individual depositions in their defense and have never stated that they will not attend and participate in the ongoing trial.

Last month, Bloomberg.com posted that for a one dollar payment, the song's writers — Page and Plant — could bypass a high profile and possibly very damaging lawsuit, reporting, "Robert Plant and Jimmy Page would have to give dead rocker Randy California a writing credit on… 'Stairway To Heaven'. And that's probably worth a lot more than a buck. Such an agreement by Page and Plant, the band's guitarist and singer, respectively, would head off a much anticipated copyright infringement trial."

The performance and publishing worth of LED ZEPPELIN's "Stairway To Heaven" is estimated to be over $560 million.

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