Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page issued a response to the copyright infringement lawsuit over the creation of their 1971 classic, “Stairway To Heaven”, via a declaration filed in a California court on February 25.
The suit – brought by Randy California's estate and members of Spirit – claims the acoustic introduction to “Stairway” was lifted from their 1968 instrumental, “Taurus.”
The Wrap reports Page claims that he “never heard” the Spirit song until a couple of years ago.
In the declaration, Page states, “Prior to hearing a recording of ‘Taurus’ in 2014 in connection with this matter, I have never heard ‘Taurus’ or even heard of it. I am very good at remembering music and am absolutely certain that I never heard ‘Taurus’ until 2014.”
“I consider descending chromatic lines and arpeggiated chords basic skills learned by any student of the guitar,” he explains. “Certainly, as a guitarist, I was aware of descending chromatic lines and arpeggios long before 1968.”
Interestingly, Page goes on to confirm that he discovered a copy of Spirit’s first album in his personal record collection.
"I had not previously seen it in my collection and do not know how or when it got there," he states. "It may well have been left by a guest. I doubt it was there for long, since I never noticed it before. But, again, I know I did not hear ‘Taurus’ until 2014."
"I have several thousand albums of many different kinds," adds Page. "They include albums I purchased, albums people gave me and albums that were simply left at my home. Also, like a book collector who never gets around to reading books they collect, I have never listened to many of the albums."
As part of Thursday’s hearing, lawyers for Led Zeppelin filed a motion for summary judgment on the case in an effort to dismiss the proceedings.
See also:
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