A long running legal dispute between the surviving members of The Doors, the parents of Jim Morrison and the parents of Morrison's deceased wife Pamela Courson could soon be over after the California Supreme Court refused to take up an appeal over an earlier ruling in the case.
As previously reported, the dispute stems from a tour in 2003, when keyboardist Ray Manzerek and guitarist Robby Krieger went on tour together, playing songs by their former band, with The Cult's Ian Astbury on vocals. Drummer John Densmore declined to take part but agreed to let the duo play the songs, provided they didn't call themselves The Doors. So far, so reasonable. However, Manzerek and Densmore called themselves The Doors Of The 21st Century and then made the words "Of The 21st Century" very small in many of their press adverts, which made Densmore, the Morrisons and the Coursons a little annoyed. It didn't help when the $3.2 million net profit from the tour went to a new company called Doors Touring, either.
Under a 1970 agreement, signed by all four members, all business deals relating to the band require a unanimous vote from all band members, after Morrison was angered after the others agreed to allow 'Light My Fire' to be used in a Buick TV advert. After 1971, when Morrison died, Manzerek, Krieger, Densmore, Morrison's parents and his widow Pamela Courson split the sales of Doors music and memorabilia. Courson's parents received an stake after her death.
In 2005, a US court ruled that Manzerek and Krieger had improperly used The Doors' name and ordered them to stop immediately, and to pay $3.2 million to their accusers, as well as $2 million dollars in costs. However, the pair appealed, as the judge had actually overruled the jury's decision. In May, an appeals court upheld the ruling for damages, but is still considering an appeal that the charge of $2 million in costs is excessive. Now that the California Supreme Court has refused to consider a further appeal, it looks like the whole case may soon come to a close, with Manzerek and Krieger left footing a rather large bill.