Led Zeppelin are being accused for undertaking “a pure fishing expedition” by attorneys representing the estate of Spirit guitarist Randy California (Wolfe) in the copyright-infringement lawsuit against the band over “Stairway To Heaven.”
The suit claims the acoustic introduction to 1971’s “Stairway” was lifted from Spirit’s 1968 instrumental “Taurus.”
The Wrap reports attorneys for plaintiff Michael Skidmore — trustee for the Randy Craig Wolfe Trust which, according to the papers, owns Wolfe’s copyrights — slammed Led Zeppelin for questioning the validity of the trust in papers filed on Tuesday.
“There is no evidence to cast even the slightest bit of shade on the validity of the Trust, nor have Defendants argued that there is any real reason to doubt the validity of the Trust,” the papers read. “This is a pure fishing expedition.”
Led Zeppelin’s camp contends that the Wolfe trust is only valid if it is a qualified charitable foundation or other qualified entity, and claims that Skidmore’s legal team hasn’t provided evidence to that effect.
Zeppelin’s lawyers are asking Skidmore’s team to provide proof, such as “all Internal Revenue Service notices or correspondence qualifying the Randy Craig Wolfe Trust as a charitable foundation or other qualified entity.”
California/Wolfe drowned while rescuing his 12-year-old son from a rip current in Hawaii in early 1997
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page called the lawsuit “ridiculous” when asked about it in 2014.
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