(659)  JIMMY PAGE IN GLASGOW SHERIFF COURT

Following the appearance of an old juristic star in Glasgow Sheriff Court earlier in the month (see above, No 656), on Friday 27 July 2007 erstwhile Led Zeppelin guitarist and producer Jimmy Page (63) stepped into the witness box in Glasgow Sheriff Court to give evidence in the trial of Robert Langley on charges of trade mark and copyright infringement offences.  Langley had been arrested in possession of counterfeit or bootlegged music recordings which included a substantial body of Led Zeppelin material but pleaded not guilty to the charges.  Page provided evidence about the sources for the bootleg copies, as well as commenting adversely on the quality of the counterfeits and describing the damage they did to the legitimate product in terms of goodwill and sales.  On Monday 30 July a clearly overwhelmed Langley changed his plea to one of guilty.  He will be sentenced later as well as facing hearings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.  For those too young (or too old) to have heard (or heard of) Led Zeppelin, one of the great hard rock bands of the 1960s/1970s, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin and also the band’s official website, http://www.led-zeppelin.com/.  The successful tactic of using a celebrity witness perhaps recognisable by the judge may suggest to Glasgow fiscals the way to get a guilty verdict at last in prosecuting street traders selling unlicensed Rangers favours (see for lack of success to date, Nos 221, 538, and 638): bring in former Ibrox favourites such as John Greig and Wee Willie Henderson to testify to the damage these people are causing to Rangers Football Club (for Greig, Henderson and other Rangers legends, see http://www.rangers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/HallOfFame/).  That would be bound to have an effect on sheriffs’ perception of what is right and what is wrong, save perhaps where they are Celtic supporters.