Case 2:15-cv-03462-RGK-AGR Document 97-2 Filed 02/25/16 Page 1 of 6 Page ID #:1071

Peter J. Anderson, Esq., Cal. Bar No. 88891

E-Ma i I : pia@,pianders'on. com
LAW OFFIES OF PETER J. ANDERSON

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ANTHONY
PLANT, JOHN PAUL JO
WARNETVCHAPPELL
MUSIC, INC., SUPER HYPE
ATLANTIC RECORD ING CORP
ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY
MUSIC GROUP CORP.
Helene Freeman. Esq.. admitted oro hac vice
E-Mail : hfreernnlbhittipsnizei.com
PHILIPS NIZER LI,P
666 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10103-0084
Tel: (212\ 977-9700
Fax: 12ll\ 262-5152
Attorhev for De fendants
JAMES PATRICK PAGE, ROBERT ANTHONY
PLANT and JOHN PAUL JONES

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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WESTERN DIVISION

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MICHAEL SKIDMORE, efc.,

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Plaintit
vs.

LED ZEPPELIN, et al,,

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Defendants.

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Case No. 2:15-cv-03462 RGK (AGRX)

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DECLARATION OF JAMES
PATRICK PAGE IN SUPPORT OF
MOTION FOR SUMMARY
JUDGMENT OR, IN THE
ALTERNATIVE, PARTIAL
SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Date: March 28,2016
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Courtroom of the Honorable
R. Garv Klausner
United Stats District Judge

Case 2:15-cv-03462-RGK-AGR Document 97-2 Filed 02/25/16 Page 2 of 6 Page ID #:1072

DECLARATION OF JAMES PATRICK PAGE

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I, James Patrick Page, declare and state:

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facts and could competently testi$ to those facts

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if called upon to do so.

I, along with Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and the late John Bonham,

were the members of the band LedZeppelin, formed

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I am over the age of 18 and have personal knowledge of the following

in

1968.

The musical composition Stairway to Heaver? was created by Robert

Plant and me, independently and without knowledge of Taurus.

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I composed the music to Stairway to Heaven with the intention to create

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a long work, with multiple different

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cornplexity and speed culminating in a guitar solo that was preceded by a distinct

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fanfare, followed by the last verse concluding a climax to the song. Robert Plant

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created the lyrics tlor Stairway to Heaven after my initial composition of the music,

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when the song was worked on by the band members of Led Zeppelin

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rehearsals for its recording.

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January 1971 in London, England, and first performed by Led Zeppelin in March

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created in early

parts, that would unfold with increasing

in

1970 in

Stairtay o Heavel? was recorded in December

1970 to

at Ulster Hall in Belfast, Northern lreland. The recording of

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irway to Heaven

was included in the Led Zeppelin album

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,Sra

1971.

The beginning of Stairway to Heaven includes a descending chromatic

line.

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line chord progression and arpeggios, over which

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consider descending chromatic lines and arpeggiated ohords basic skills learned by

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any student of the guitar. Certainly, as a guitarist,

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chromatic lines and arpeggios long before 1968. For example, in 1960, I arranged for

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a friend, Chris Farlowe, and his band the Thunderbirds to record a demo of

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composition Spring is Near along with other material.. Chris Farlowe did get

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recording contract. Spring is Near was not released. However,

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pressing of the demo and provided it to my counsel for production in this case. The

played an ascending

I was aware of descending

the
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I still have the

Case 2:15-cv-03462-RGK-AGR Document 97-2 Filed 02/25/16 Page 3 of 6 Page ID #:1073

beginning of Spring is Near, recorded

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chromatic line chord progression.

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in 1960, is a guitar

playing a descending

Before 1968, I also was familiar with other songs that included

descending line, such as songs by the Beatles and Cry Me a River by Davey Graharn.

Also, in 1964 a studio musician, Joe Moretti, introduced me to the song Chim Chm

Chiree and I liked the idea of music going at counterpoint and I used that and similar

ideas

descending chromatic line over which there is also an ascending line, so that the music

is going in two different directions.

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in my music. For example, as stated above, Stairway to Heavere has a

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I performed as a session guitarist on recordings by a musical group called

Cartoone for their album of the same name. That album includes a song titled /ce

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Cream Dreams, which also begins with a guitar playing a descending

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participated in that recording as a session guitarist in the fall

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Zeppelin went to the U.S. in December 1968.

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Prior to hearing a recording of Tauras in 2014 in connection with this

it. I am very good at remembering

matter, I had never heard Taurus or even heard of

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music and am absolutely certain that I never heard Taurus until 2014.

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1968, before Led

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line.

9, I do not recall ever seeing Spirit perfonn live. Again, though, I am

absolutely certain I never heard them, or anyone else, perform Taurus,

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Led Zeppelin and the band Spirit never performed together and were

never on the same stage at the same time.

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To the best of my knowledge based on the information presently

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available to rne, the only occasions when Led Zeppelin performed at the same venue

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on the same date on which Spirit was scheduled to perform were: the Auditorium

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Arena in Denver, Colorado, on December 26, 1968, the Atlanta International Pop

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Festival at the Atlanta Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 5, 1969 and the Seattle

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Pop Festival in Woodinville, Washington, on July

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27,1969. The latter two

events

Case 2:15-cv-03462-RGK-AGR Document 97-2 Filed 02/25/16 Page 4 of 6 Page ID #:1074

were outdoor festivals over two or three days with approximately 20 to 40 bands or

individual peforrners and ten or rnore of them performing each day.

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Led Zeppelin's first U.S. performance was the concert in Denver,

Colorado, the day after Christmas in 1968. I understand that Spirit also performed

that night, but I did not see or hear Spirit's performance.

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I have no personal knowledge of whether Spirit performed at the festivals

in Atlanta, Georgia, or Vy'oodinville, rWashington, and, if it did, when in the course of

the day it performed, as I have no recollection of seeing them perform.

14. Generally, in my experience, when bands played on the same bill, each

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band or performer used their own guitars, amplifiers, keyboards, drums and other

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equiprnent. In between performances, their respective road crews would set up or

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dismantle and remove their equipment, and that generally took anywhere from

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20 minutes depending on the extent of the equipment.

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In rny experience, the set-up interval between bands meant that we did

not encounter any other bands entering or leaving the stage.

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16. I understand Mark Andes testified that he was introduced to the members

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of Led Zeppelin at the concert in Denver in 1968 by Toby Roberts, who he stated had

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leased an airplane we were then

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Roberts, did not lease a plane from hirn and to the best of my knowledge he was not

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involved in our tour. Led Zeppelin did not lease an airplane for use in touring until

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1973,long after the concert in Denver in December 1968.

using. In December 1968, we did not know Toby

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17, Before Led Zeppelin's first performance in the United States in

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December 1968, Led Zeppelin performed live concerts in England and Scandinavia

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that included Led Zeppelin's performance of the song As Long As

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medley that included a short bass

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Garbage. I had heard Fresh Garbage on the radio in England before Led Zeppelin

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first toured in the United States.

I Have You as a

riff sirnilar to the bass riff in the song Fresh

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Case 2:15-cv-03462-RGK-AGR Document 97-2 Filed 02/25/16 Page 5 of 6 Page ID #:1075

18. I purchased a Sonic Vy'ave, a Theremin-type

devise, in Los Angeles

before LedZeppelin was formed, while I was a member of the Yardbirds. I purchased

the Sonic Wave after Jeff Beck told me that Brian Wilson used a Theremin in the 1966

song Good Vibrations and on tour.

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I have several

thousand albums of many different

kinds. They include

I purchased, albums people gave me and albums that were simply left at my

albums

home. Also, like a book collector who never gets around to reading books they

collect, I have never listened to many of the albums.

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In connection with this litigation, I discovered a copy of Spirit's first

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album in my record collection. I had not previously seen it in my collection and do not

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know how or when it got there. It may well have been left by a guest. I doubt it was

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there for long, since I never noticed it before. But, again, I know I did not hear Taurus

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until 2014.

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In the over four decades since the l97I release of Led Zeppelin IV and

Stairway to Heaven, documents have been lost or stolen. For example, portions of the

l6 music recorded during the creation of ,Srairway to Heaven that were

made at Headley

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Grange in 1970 are gone. They were stolen from my home at some time in the 1980's,

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and in later years copies of the stolen recordings have turned up for sale on bootleg

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recordings. I have had to purchase bootleg recordings in order to try to recover what

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was stolen and those recordings

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However, other recordings remain missing, and with the passage of time documents,

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such as concert contracts, set lists, and travel documentation, have been lost or

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discarded.

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recovered have been produced in this action.

Also, and unfortunately, rnany people have passed away since 197l,

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including John Bonham, who died in 1980, Peter Grant (Led Zeppelin's personal

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manager and who attended many

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engineer for the recording

of its concerts) in

1995 and Andy Johns (the

of Stairway to Heaven) in 2013.

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Case 2:15-cv-03462-RGK-AGR Document 97-2 Filed 02/25/16 Page 6 of 6 Page ID #:1076

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f dcolre undor pcnalty of perjury undor tho laws of the Unitd Statcs of
Amcisa tbat thc fortgoing is ile aud corroct. Exoflted on Febnrary 24,20t6.

JAMES P

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