The China Mail - Whole lotta legal argument: Led Zeppelin guitarist Page sued

Its epic guitar riffs and complex drum work made the song an enduring show stopper for one of the most influential groups of the 1970s.

Page's soulful licks and singer Robert Plant's soaring vocals in the song -- it was on their first album -- helped establish the band's trademark blues-rock sound.

But while the sound of "Dazed and Confused" was all theirs, it was originally by folk rocker Jake Holmes, who recorded it in 1967, a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Monday said.

The suit argues that Page and music publisher Warner Chappell disregarded a 2011 settlement over the song by issuing early live recordings and featuring it in Sony Pictures' new documentary "Becoming Led Zeppelin" without permission, payment or credit.

"The film incorporates at least two performances of 'Dazed and Confused' -- one by the Yardbirds and one by Led Zeppelin," the suit says.

According to the filing, the film says the Yardbirds version of Holmes' song was written by Page alone, while the Zeppelin version in the documentary was written by Page, but "inspired by" Holmes.

Page played with the Yardbirds -- who had a version of the song -- from 1966 to 1968 before leaving to form Led Zeppelin with Plant, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham.

"Dazed and Confused" appears on the band's self-titled debut album, which came out in 1969.

Holmes and Page settled a copyright dispute over the song after a lawsuit in Los Angeles in 2010.

Details of that settlement were not made public, but Holmes' new suit claims he is now owed $150,000 per alleged infringement in connection with the song's use by the Yardbirds.

"Starting in or around 1968, the Yardbirds began to publicly perform the Holmes composition," the complaint says.

"Every performance of 'Dazed and Confused' by the Yardbirds is a performance of the Holmes composition."

Monday's suit is not the first time the provenance of a Led Zeppelin hit has been legally questioned.

The iconic smash hit "Stairway to Heaven" was the subject of a lengthy legal tussle when Los Angeles band Spirit claimed the famous opening riff was swiped from their work.

The case almost made it to the US Supreme Court, but ultimately the country's chief justices refused to take it up, and let stand a California court's ruling in favor of the British rockers.

J.Liv--ThChM