Warner Records; Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesBill Murray has been using The Doobie Brothers‘ 1972 hit “Listen to the Music” to sell his line of golf shirts, without the band’s permission, and their lawyer wants the actor to pay up.
However, rather than using a bunch of legal threats, attorney Peter Paterno took a couple of light-hearted jabs at the Caddyshack star to get his message across.
“The Doobie Brothers perform and recorded the song Listen to the Music, which Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers wrote,” noted Paterno in a letter to Murray obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s a fine song,” he continued. “I know you agree because you keep using it in your ads for 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.'”
Adds Paterno, “It seems like the only person who uses our clients’ music without permission more than you do is Donald Trump.”
“This is the part where I’m supposed to cite the United States Copyright Act, excoriate you for not complying some subparagraph that I’m too lazy to look up and threaten you with eternal damnation for doing so,” he continued. “But you already earned that with those Garfield movies.”
In a nod to Murray’s character in Caddyshack, Paterno signs off with “We’d almost be okay with it if the shirts weren’t so damn ugly. But it is what it is. So, in the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, ‘Au devoir Golfer. Et payez!'”
As of Thursday night, Murray’s camp hasn’t responded to Paterno’s letter.
By Matt Friedlander
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