Legendary guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame has been sued in a US court by a songwriter who alleges Page violated the copyright on the 1960s hit Dazed and Confused.
Jake Holmes, a US-based singer-songwriter and jingle writer, filed the lawsuit in a federal court in California on Monday (May 5), accusing Page of copyright infringement and breach of contract in connection to the biopic Becoming Led Zeppelin, which was released earlier this year, as well as a number of recordings by The Yardbirds, Page’s band before Led Zeppelin.
Holmes wrote Dazed and Confused in 1967 and recorded it for his album “The Above Ground Sound” of Jake Holmes.
The following year, Page’s band, The Yardbirds, publicly performed Dazed and Confused, and the year after that, Page established a new band, Led Zeppelin.
Dazed and Confused, with new lyrics, appeared on Led Zeppelin’s untitled debut album, with Page credited as songwriter.
In 2010, Holmes took Page to court for copyright infringement over the song, and the matter was settled out of court in 2011.
According to Holmes’ new complaint, under the 2011 settlement agreement, the defendants, including Page, “acknowledge that they have no claim whatsoever to or with respect to the Holmes Composition [of Dazed and Confused].”
Thus, the song’s use in Becoming Led Zeppelin and in a number of Yardbirds compilation albums released in recent years violates Holmes’ copyright on the composition and the 2011 agreement, the complaint alleges.
Also named as defendants are WC Music Corp. (a division of Warner Chappell Music), Succubus Music Limited (Jimmy Page’s music publishing company), Sony Pictures Classics, which distributed Becoming Led Zeppelin, and a number of film production companies involved in making the movie.
“Page, [Succubus Music] and WC Music Corp. have willfully infringed the Holmes Composition.”
Legal complaint against Jimmy Page et al brought by Jake Holmes
“By falsely claiming that the Holmes Composition is the Page Composition, by falsely authorizing use of the Holmes Composition as if it is the Page Composition and by falsely collecting and receiving monies rightfully belonging to Plaintiff for use of his Holmes Composition, Page, [Succubus Music] and WC Music Corp. have willfully infringed the Holmes Composition,” stated the complaint, which can be read in full here.
The complaint states that lawyers for Holmes sent a cease-and-desist letter to the defendants on April 14, but defendants “have ignored plaintiff’s cease and desist demand and continue to infringe the Holmes Composition by… purporting to authorize its use in the film and/or releasing the film to ‘video on demand’ on streaming platforms including Amazon and Apple TV.”
Lawyers for Page or the other defendants have not yet filed a formal response to the complaint.
More than a decade ago, Led Zeppelin’s classic Stairway to Heaven found itself at the center of a closely-watched copyright infringement lawsuit.
The estate of the late Randy Wolfe (aka Randy California), a member of the band Spirit, accused Page and fellow Zeppelin member Robert Plant of ripping off the opening riff of Stairway to Heaven from the Spirit track Taurus.
In 2016, a jury cleared Page and Plant of the copyright infringement claim, but the case was appealed and only finally came to a close in October 2020 when the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling upholding the jury verdict.Music Business Worldwide
