Led Zeppelin's Publisher Seeks Over $600K For Stairway Trail

(Classic Rock) Publishing company Warner/Chappell Music are seeking $613,000 in legal fees for the recent Led Zeppelin Stairway To Heaven copyright trial. The jury in the six-day trial ruled that Led Zeppelin did not plagiarize the opening chords of Stairway To Heaven from Spirit track Taurus.

Warner/Chappell asked for the money for defending Led Zep against plagiarism claims and accused the attorney who filed the case of "gross misconduct," according to Courthouse News.

Now Warner/Chappell wants to claim back the $613,000 in legal fees it says it spent defending the claim, which was led by solicitor Francis Malofiy. Malofiy - who was representing Michael Skidmore, the trustee for late Spirit guitarist Randy California - has since been been suspended for three months over his conduct in an earlier rights trial.

Warner/Chappell says: "Plaintiff's Philadelphia counsel's misconduct in this case is a continuation of the misconduct that earned him a substantial monetary sanction as well as a three-months-and-a-day suspension in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania." Read more here.

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