A U.S. district court judge has ruled against Led Zeppelin’s surviving members in their attempt to have a copyright-infringement lawsuit involving the band’s “Stairway to Heaven” either moved to a California court or dismissed completely.

The suit, which claims that the opening of “Stairway” was cribbed from an obscure 1968 instrumental titled “Taurus” by the group Spirit, was filed in this past May in Pennsylvania and the case currently is slated to be tried there.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a memorandum issued by Led Zeppelin’s attorneys asking for the dismissal or change of venue stated, “The individual defendants are British citizens residing in England, own no property in Pennsylvania and have no contacts with Pennsylvania, let alone ties sufficient to render them essentially at home here.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the family of late Spirit guitarist Randy California, countered by amending their lawsuit to add the claim that through “the exploitation of ‘Stairway to Heaven,'” the band’s members “make millions of dollars from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania” via “CD sales, digital downloading, radio and television play, advertising, marketing, concert performances” and other avenues of income.

Justice Juan Sánchez denied the Led Zeppelin members’ request for a dismissal or a transfer of venue, although he did so without prejudice, which means that the rockers can attempt again to have the suit dismissed or the site moved.

“Stairway to Heaven,” of course, is one of Led Zeppelin’s most popular songs. Incidentally, the album it first appeared on, 1971’s Led Zeppelin IV, is scheduled to be reissued on October 28.

Deluxe versions of the record will include a previously unreleased version of the tune.

Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

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