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The end is near for a bitter legal dispute between the three surviving members of the Doors now that the California Supreme Court in San Francisco has refused to take up their case.
Keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger are on the hook for more than $5 million after they were found by lower courts to have improperly invoked the Doors' name and images during a 2003 concert tour. After the high court declined to hear their appeal Aug. 13, they'll have to pay up to drummer John Densmore, the parents of deceased lead singer Jim Morrison and the parents of Morrison's deceased wife, Pamela Courson, who died in 1974.
The case goes back to 2002, when Densmore declined an offer from the other two to go on a concert tour as the Doors. Densmore said he didn't object to Manzarek and Krieger touring and singing the Doors' songs, as long as they didn't call themselves the Doors, use the group's distinctive logo or any other Morrison-era imagery.
"You can't call yourselves the Doors because you can't have the Doors without Jim Morrison," said Densmore's attorney, S. Jerome Mandel.
Densmore and the parents sued Manzarek and Krieger in 2003 after the two began touring the country with Ian Astbury, former lead singer of the Cult, and calling themselves the Doors of the 21st Century.
Densmore complained that the phrase "of the 21st Century" was often little more than fine print in advertisements and that the new band displayed Morrison's image dozens of times during concerts. The tour grossed $8 million and netted $3.2 million, which went to the new band's company, called Doors Touring Inc., and none of which went to Densmore or the parents.
In 2005, a judge ordered the new band to stop using "the Doors" in any form and ordered Manzarek and Krieger to pay Densmore and the parents a combined $3.2 million, plus $2 million in legal costs.
An appeals court upheld the $3.2 million award, and is considering Manzarek and Krieger's appeal of the $2 million in legal costs as excessive.
"It's really disappointing," said lawyer Mark Poster, who represented Manzarek and Krieger. He said the two pursued the appeal so vigorously because the judge had overruled a jury decision in awarding Densmore damages.
The dispute stems from a 1970 agreement signed by the four original band members saying that any business deal would require an unanimous vote.
Since Morrison's death in 1971, the remaining band members and the parents split Morrison's share of the sale of the Doors' music and memorabilia.
The band had hits in the 1960s including "Break on Through," "L.A. Woman" and "Riders on the Storm."
Manzarek and Krieger now call themselves Riders on the Storm and continue to perform the Doors' songs live.
The California Supreme Court also has declined to take up a case involving the three surviving members of the Doors over the band’s name and image, The Associated Press reported Friday. At issue is more than $5 million that the keyboardist Ray Manzarek and the guitarist Robby Krieger are said to owe the drummer John Densmore and others, after Mr. Manzarek and Mr. Krieger were found by lower courts to have improperly used the band’s image and name during a 2003 concert tour. On Aug. 13 the high court declined to hear their appeal, which means that the two men will have to pay the amount to Mr. Densmore as well as to the parents of the group’s lead singer, Jim Morrison, who died in 1971, and the parents of Morrison’s wife, Pamela Courson, who died in 1974. The case goes back to 2002, when Mr. Densmore gave permission to Mr. Manzarek and Mr. Krieger to perform the Doors’ songs but prohibited them from calling themselves the Doors and from using the group’s logo or any other Morrison imagery. The dispute began after Mr. Manzarek and Mr. Krieger began to tour under the name the Doors of the 21st Century. In 2005 a judge ordered them to stop using the Doors name in any form. Mr. Manzarek and Mr. Krieger now call their group Riders on the Storm, the title of a Doors song.
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