Club Fred Hit By The Doors - May 29 2006

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The Fresno Bee News

Club Fred Hit By The Doors

Music Group Members Sue Fresno Club For Playing Tunes Without License.
By John Ellis / The Fresno Bee

(Updated Monday, May 29, 2006, 5:12 AM)

The Doors are suing Club Fred.

The three surviving members of the famed '60s music group, as well as the parents of late lead singer Jim Morrison and his late common-law wife, Pamela Courson, are suing Ernesto Vera, owner of the popular Fresno nightclub, 1426 N. Van Ness Ave., for playing four of its compositions without permission.

The songs are "Riders on the Storm," "LA Woman," "Love Me Two Times" and "Roadhouse Blues."

Also suing Vera is J. Albert & Son for the club's playing of AC/DC's "Back In Black" without permission. J. Albert & Son is a music publishing company that is the worldwide publisher of AC/DC's copyrights.

The suit seeks between $750 and $30,000 for each of the five songs played without permission.

All the plaintiffs are registered with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the performing rights organization better known as ASCAP. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Fresno, claims that despite numerous letters and other contacts by ASCAP, Vera continued to play the copyrighted music without permission.

"Regrettably, we are talking about an intangible right," said Richard Reimer, ASCAP's in-house counsel. "It's not a CD or sheet music [where royalties can be collected at the time of sale]. It becomes an enforcement issue."

Vera could not be reached to comment.

This is not the first time this year a Fresno club has run afoul of a performing rights organization for playing copyrighted music without permission.

Broadcast Music Inc., a counterpart to ASCAP better known as BMI, sued Porky's for playing songs written by Van Morrison, Dwight Yoakam and others without paying royalties. The north Fresno restaurant has since closed.

Reimer said ASCAP — which represents more than 250,000 members, including songwriters, composers and music publishers — files in excess of 100 copyright infringement suits each year, but it is the organization's avenue of last resort after writing letters and making phone calls in an attempt to get establishments to purchase music licenses.

In the case of Club Fred, he said, the annual fee is less than $1,500.

ASCAP hired an independent investigator to enter Club Fred and write down the titles of the songs being played. The lawsuit lists March 17 and 18 as the dates the investigator noted the music being played without permission.

It was a combination of live and jukebox music, Reimer said. The jukebox music required a license because there was a cover charge. By charging for entry, Reimer said, Club Fred was benefitting monetarily from the jukebox.

The reporter can be reached at [e-mail] or [phone].

www.fresnobee.com/local/story/12247703p-12986596c.html

[jym]

So, basically the place isn't paying their ASCAP fees & the investigator wrote down all the songs that were played & The Doors & AC/DC saw their names on the list & decided to sue, is that right?

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

After Densmore kicked their arces in court Ray and Robby need cash from anywhere they can get it

[strangenightvstone]

I posted this over on the LL, I got a semi answer from Jeff the manager of The Doors. He said that The Doors had nothing to do with the lawsuit, he said this article is the first he has heard about it. I quoted him when he said "The Doors didn't do anything" and asked him why, as manager was he allowing ASCAP to exploit Jim Morrison. I told him to do something about it now that he is aware, demand the investigation be done without using the name of The Doors. Jeff wrote this off as a journalist from Fresno making something up.