IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT NEWS: Saga over Dazed and Confused takes another unpredicted turn, (May 8, 2025)

By Matthew Hersh, J.D.

The author of the original version of the song has reopened litigation against Jimmy Page and the backers of a new Led Zeppelin documentary.

A newly released documentary about Led Zeppelin has reopened long-dormant litigation over the ownership of a song first released by the internationally renowned rock group in 1969. The new lawsuit, filed by the author of the song that inspired the Led Zeppelin hit, takes aim at an issue that appears not to have been addressed in the settlement of the earlier lawsuit: what to do about versions of the song performed by one of Led Zeppelin’s predecessor groups, The Yardbirds (Holmes v. Page, No. 2:25-cv-03977 (C.D. Cal. filed May 5, 2025)).

The dispute is over three different versions of the song Dazed and Confused, the smash hit released on multiple occasions in the 1960s and still considered a staple of classic rock genre today. Jake Holmes, an American singer-songwriter, wrote and released his version of the song for his 1967 album The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes. Later that year, Holmes performed the song when he opened at a Greenwich Village gig for The Yardbirds, the group that—after the departure of guitar superstars Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton—was now being led by Jimmy Page.

As Holmes later described the events, “[t]hat was the infamous moment of my life when Dazed and Confused fell into the loving arms and hands of Jimmy Page.” Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty went to a record shop the next day to buy a copy of Holmes’s album and the Yardbirds began performing their own rendition in the years following (a video of one such performance, in 1969, can be found here). Page then reworked the song in 1968 when he founded Led Zeppelin, which released their own version in 1969. The Zeppelin version was a staple at the band’s live concerts and is widely considered one of the more influential songs in the rock and roll pantheon.

For years, as Rolling Stone recounts, Holmes declined to take issue with Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused,” even reportedly remarking at one point, “What the hell, let him have it.” But in 2010, he did eventually file a copyright infringement lawsuit against Page. Details of the 2011 settlement of that lawsuit are not public, but the songwriting credit for Led Zeppelin’s version of Dazed and Confused was then reworked to be “inspired by Jake Holmes” and Holmes retained full ownership over the copyright to his original composition.

With ownership of the original and the Led Zeppelin version now settled, the present complaint addresses a third issue: how performances of the Yardbirds version of the song should be credited and accounted for. The issue apparently came to a head with the release this year of Becoming Led Zeppelin, a film tracing the story of the four principal members of the famous band that—according to the complaint—features a live performance of the song by the Yardbirds with the credits “Written by Jimmy Page.” Moreover, the complaint asserts, Page has been exploiting the work in recent years by releasing a number of sound recordings embodying the Holmes version of the work in Yardbirds live performances.

The lawsuit brings claims of copyright infringement against Page for his role in the release of the film as well as in the release of the Yardbirds sound recordings. In addition to Page, the lawsuit also names music publisher Warner Chappell Music, Sony Pictures Classics, and several other entities as defendants. The lawsuit also alleges that Page and his music publisher breached the terms of the 2011 settlement.

The Case is No. 2:25-cv-03977.

Attorneys: Daniel A. Johnson (Law Offices of Daniel A. Johnson, P.C.) for Jake Holmes.

Companies: W Chappell Music Corp.; Succubus Music Ltd.; JimmyPage.com Ltd.; Sony Pictures Classics, Inc.; Paradise Pictures Ltd.; Altitude Film Sales Ltd.; Big Beach LLC

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