Led Zeppelin publishers Warner/Chappell Music have filed an appeal in an effort to recoup nearly $800,000 in attorneys' fees for successfully defending the band in the recent "Stairway To Heaven" copyright infringement lawsuit.
Law 360 reports the publishers are heading to the Ninth Circuit court in California to continue the process they began in July after citing "extensive and ongoing litigation misconduct" on behalf of the Plaintiff’s attorney Francis Malofiy.
The publishers claim, among other things, that Malofiy began by filing the complaint in the wrong court, in Pennsylvania, and that his misconduct continued throughout the trial in Los Angeles.
The appeal follows a verdict by Judge R. Gary Klausner last month that denied the publisher’s request for compensation.
The trial – won by the band via a jury verdict in June and currently under appeal – is over the creation of Led Zeppelin’s 1971 signature song against a claim by Michael Skidmore on behalf of the estate and Trust of Spirit guitarist Randy California (Wolfe) that the acoustic introduction to “Stairway” was lifted from the group’s 1968 instrumental, “Taurus.”
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