How To Be Funny And Not A Jerk In A Cease And Desist Notice, From The Doobie Brothers
from the zero-bucks-given dept
I've written about famed classic rock band The Doobie Brothers before. As a person who is very much a fan of the band's music, I was rather disappointed when they decided to go after a cover band, The Doobie Decimal System, over trademark infringement. Their argument was that the names would confuse the public as it is too similar to their own band's name and if you aren't already laughing out loud by now you most certainly should be. The legal team for the band went with some fairly standard messaging as well, rather than taking a softer approach.
Unlike, say, how The Doobie Brothers have decided to handle a copyright C&D with comedian Bill Murray.
Bill Murray receives a legal demand from the Doobie Brothers. And it’s everything you’d want it to be... pic.twitter.com/R1L99yZSBj
— Eriq Gardner (@eriqgardner) September 24, 2020
Let's assume for the moment that the claims in the letter as to Murray's unauthorized use of the band's music are accurate. I have yet to see any response at all from Murray's side, never mind one that refutes the claim that he used The Doobie Brothers' music without a license. Because what should really standout in this C&D is how congenial and funny it comes across, rather than dropping legal nukes at every turn like so many other C&Ds.
In case you cannot read it, it includes lines such as:
The Doobie Brothers perform and recorded the song 'Listen To The Music', which Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers wrote. It's a fine song. I know you agree because you keep using it in ads for your Zero Hucks Given golf shirts. However, given that you haven't paid to use it, maybe you should change the company name to 'Zero Bucks Given'.
Not bad. But it gets better.
It seems like the only person who uses our clients' music without permission more than you do is Donald Trump.
Ooooh, topical comedy! It's like a Lewis Black bit! What else?
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...
We'd almost be OK with it if the shirts weren't so damn ugly.
Self-deprecation coupled with witty barbs on a famed comedian for what were some truly awful career choices? Five stars all around!
In addition to being a funny example of a topic we cover here all the time, the real lesson in this is that just because there are legal rights at play doesn't mean you can't have some fun. Witty C&Ds like this, with a little basic human decency thrown in rather than explosive legal threats, are far too rare. Handling matters in this way are publicly endearing and, I imagine, likely to get a more positive response from the target of the letter than nuclear threats. Nicely done!
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: bill murray, copyright, doobie brothers, zero hucks given
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
BillMurray
Bill Murray is a well know asshole
https://www.ranker.com/list/horrible-bill-murray-stories/jacob-shelton
https://www.mercuryne ws.com/2019/06/27/lovable-comedy-icon-bill-murray-was-an-abusive-drunken-bully-on-film-set-claims-ri chard-dreyfuss/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/zap-billmurraywifedivorcepetition-story.html
For every instance of him being a goofball there are many of him being an abusive jerk.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: BillMurray
How long have you been saving that up for?
At least there's evidence of Murray being a goofball..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
There's an old story about how, in the 1950s, after EC adapted a couple of his stories without authorization, Ray Bradbury sent them a letter that said
They cut him a check and, after that, licensed stories from him with proper payment and credit.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Huh. Amazing to think that, at one time, the license to adapt a Ray Bradbury story could be had for $50.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Inflation has happened, and today that would be more like $500.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
That's about $500 adjusted for inflation. Which is still pretty low compared to what those rights would probably go for today.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ray Bradbury licenses for cheap
Probably because he's super famous now. Some authors are super prolific and yet stay in the realm of schlock-jock, and I can see their prices staying competitive.
Curiously, in Neil Gaiman's FAQ he states that he charges outrageous prices for lectures and speeches because he really would rather be writing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ray Bradbury licenses for cheap
There's also not really any modern equivalent to an EC story. On the one hand, those adaptations were 8-page stories in anthologies together with a bunch of other stories; on the other, their circulation was massive compared to comics of today.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Stephen King sold his first short story for $35. Things changes after you get famous...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If only everyone put lipstick on their pigs we would all feel so much better about sync licenses being bullshit and love that we still can't freely use music made 50 years ago
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
If only we had the 28-to-56 year term before all those copyright extensions (and the opt-out nature of copyright turning into opt-in) that happened in 1978. At least I can make covers and remixes of music made 95 years ago (which I was working on earlier today, to be frank).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If someone is selling shirts on tv ads they have enough money to pay to license the money they use. I.m sure bill Murray gets paid alot to make ads for TV.
Also music composers should have the right to say No I do not want anyone to use my music for any TV ads.
The rolling stones got 40 million dollars just for allowing start me up to be used for Windows 95 commercials.
Imagine if someone asked Bill to make a TV ad
for zero dollars.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Honestly this just makes me think their representation is ridiculous for going after the cover band.
Yeah, it's a cool C&D. I can't understand how someone doesn't license third-party music for a commercial advertisement. Derp.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Which did they do first?
Maybe they learned from it? Maybe the Doobie Brothers realized that their lawyers needed to chill out some?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Uhhhhhhh...
Let’s please not get ahead of ourselves here. While I agree with the overall premise and conclusion that the tone of this letter is far more human and palatable and therefore vastly preferable when compared to the standard administrative and authoritarian legalese ... it is only by those incredibly low standards that this letter could be considered “funny” or “witty”.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Uhhhhhhh...
Huh. I didn't realise Bill Murray read Techdirt!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I think the real crime here is that the cover band missed a better (IMHO) name for their band: The Doobie Decibel System.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]