[imagesource:  Gijsbert Hanekroot / Redferns]

Both Bill Murray and the members of the Doobie Brothers seem pretty chill.

The actor has made a career out of playing oddball characters (you’ll find an attempt to rank his best movies here), and you only need to look at the picture above, of the Doobie Brothers in 1975, to get their vibe loud and clear.

Also, the name is a bit of a giveaway.

This legal battle starts with a letter sent last week, from the Doobie Brothers’ lawyers to Bill Murray’s golf apparel company, William Murray Golf, which has been using the band’s music (in particular, the classic ‘Listen to the Music’) without compensation.

Over to Rolling Stone:

 “It’s a fine song. I know you agree because you keep using it in ads for your Zero Hucks Given golf shirts,” attorney Peter Paterno wrote. “However, given that you haven’t paid to use it, maybe you should change the company name to ‘Zero Bucks Given.’”

Paterno added, “This is the part where I’m supposed to cite the United States Copyright Act, excoriate you for not complying with some subparagraph that I’m too lazy to look up and threaten you with eternal damnation for doing so. But you already earned that with those Garfield movies. And you already know you can’t use music in ads without paying for it.”

That Garfield dig is a good’un.

Paterno finished by saying the band almost wouldn’t mind Bill’s company using the song, “if the shirts weren’t so damn ugly”.

This is just one of the designs for sale on the company’s site:

Given the lighthearted nature of the legal letter, Yoffe & Cooper, the firm representing Murray’s golf company, responded in kind.

Attorney Alexander Yoffe assured the band that Bill and his firm are fans of the band’s work, sliding in a few puns related to song titles to drive the point home, whilst at the same time reminding them that the Doobie Brothers have not been harmed in any way by the use of their music:

“In the immortal words of Mr. Murray—the more relaxed you are, the better you are at everything… so let’s pour one up and unwind with a listen of the recently-released ‘Quadio’ box set and plan to cross paths at a Doobie Brothers’ 50th anniversary show in 2021 when some level of normalcy resumes,” Yoffe wrote.

“As your client so aptly stated in this classic song in question, ‘What the people need is a way to make them smile’ — which both Bill and the Doobies have been doing for decades, as world-class entertainers.”

Yoffe closed out his response by offering to send William Murray Golf shirts to each member of their band “and hopefully win each of you over as new fans of the brand… At least that’s ‘what this fool believes.’”

Here’s that letter in full:

In the immortal words of the @TheDoobieBros—”What the people need is a way to make them smile.”

William Murray Golf’s attorney @AlexYoffe‘s response to Doobie Brothers’ attorney Peter Paterno, re: “Listen To The Music”.#BillMurray #WilliamMurray #DoobieBrothers pic.twitter.com/rIxmM8wzDV

— William Murray Golf (@WMurrayGolf) September 25, 2020

This one is probably not over, but for now, everyone seems to be playing nice.

Where there are lawyers, money, and egos involved, though, there’s a decent chance it could still turn acrimonious.

[source:rollingstone]