A lawsuit filed by original Doors drummer John Densmore in 2002 may finally be reaching a resolution as the California Supreme Court has rejected the case for consideration. This means that keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robbie Krieger will have to pay more than $5 million to Densmore, the parents of deceased singer Jim Morrison, and the parents of Morrison’s deceased wife Pamela Courson.
The case started in 2002 when Densmore declined to join the other band members on a tour with Ian Astbury of the Cult, and requested the other two not use The Doors name on tour. Manzarek and Krieger cheekily changed the band’s name to The Doors of the 21st Century, and still used a lot of the band’s original imagery. The tour grossed $8 million, of which $3.2 million went to Krieger and Densmore’s new company, Doors Touring, Inc, and none went to the others with stake in the band’s image.
In 2005, a judge barred Krieger and Manzarek from using “the Doors” as a name at all, and ordered them to pay Densmore and Morrison and Courson’s parents $3.2 million. Manzarek and Krieger appealed, and fought the case until this week when the California Supreme Court rejected the case.
The argument had its genesis back in 1970, when the four living members of The Doors agreed they wouldn’t do any business deal without a unanimous vote after a dispute over a Buick commercial.
[Billboard]