After Geoffrey Downes admitted that the lead single from Yes's 2021 album The Quest, "The Ice Bridge," was "sourced" from British composer Francis Monkman's "Dawn of an Era" — which he had "mistakenly assumed" as one of his own library pieces — the prog band have been sued for copyright infringement over another track from that album, "Dare to Know."
UPDATE (11/14, 4:29 p.m. ET): "This is vindictive, defamatory, delusional garbage," a spokesperson for Yes said of the lawsuit in an email to Exclaim! "It will be vigorously defended."
As Rolling Stone reports, fellow prog rock musician Riz Story (born Rudolph Zahler) filed the complaint in Los Angeles court yesterday (November 13), alleging that Jon Davidson (the lead singer of Yes since 2012) and guitarist Steve Howe conspired to lift portions of his song "Reunion." While the track hasn't been released as a standalone single, it was featured in Story's 2014 indie film A Winter Rose.
Zahler claimed that Davison had familiarity with his work because they've worked together intermittently for decades after meeting through late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in 1990. (The complainant alleged that when he, Davison and Hawkins were in their early 20s, they played together in the first iteration of his band Anyone.)
He went on to claim that he helped Davison audition for Yes, and was asked by him to co-write songs for the band in 2013 — as well as pitching him, albeit unsuccessfully, for a producer role on a Yes album. Apparently the singer also specifically complimented Zahler on the music he wrote for A Winter Rose, including "Reunion."
"Mr. Davison decided to just 'steal' Mr. Zahler's song 'Reunion' for [The Quest], rather than getting Mr. Zahler's permission," the lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone reads, with Zahler claiming that Davison brought "Reunion" to Howe. Then, the two Yes members "decided to add lyrics to the music, affix the name 'Dare to Know' to the song, and attribute sole songwriting credit to Mr. Howe," allegedly conspiring to conceal the infringement by not including Davison in the songwriting credits.
"It is with a heavy heart that Riz Story is forced to sue Stephen Howe, one of his childhood music idols, and Jon Davison, his lifelong friend. But they left him no other choice," Zahler's lawyer Larry J. Caldwell told the publication in a statement. "Mr. Story trusts the legal system to deliver justice in these difficult circumstances."
A musicologist hired by Zahler allegedly determined that "Reunion" and "Dare to Know" have a "pitch similarity percentage of 96, which is extremely high." The complainant is seeking monetary damages, as well as an injunction requiring Yes to accord him sole writing credit for the song.