The Doors legal dispute ends in €3m payout

A LONG-RUNNING legal dispute between the three surviving members of The Doors is coming to a close with two of them facing a bill of around €3 million.

Keyboard player Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger have been refused an appeal after Californian courts ruled they improperly used the group’s name and images during a 2003 tour.

They have to pay out to drummer John Densmore, the parents of the dead lead singer Jim Morrison and the parents of Morrison’s dead wife, Pamela Courson.

The Los Angeles-based band had a string of hits in the 1960s including Break on Through and LA Woman.

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 did not object to Manzarek and Krieger touring and singing The Doors’ songs, as long as they did not call themselves The Doors, use the group’s distinctive logo or any other Morrison-era imagery.

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, calling themselves The Doors of the 21st Century.

In 2005, a judge ordered the new band to stop using The Doors in any form.

The dispute stems from a 1970 agreement signed by the four original band members that any business deal would require a unanimous vote.

The agreement was reached after a “violent disagreement” over using Light my Fire in a TV commercial.