Many of us have enjoyed many performances by the Guess Who at the Epcot festivals on the America Gardens stage over the years.
It may be a while,if ever,before they return.
Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are firing at the current "The Guess Who" with both barrels.
As Rolling Stone reported, Cummings and original Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman sued the current iteration of the Guess Who (as well as the band's original drummer and bass player Garry Peterson and Jim Kale) last October, alleging that the group that currently holds the Guess Who trademark is "a cover band" using the original group's recording in ads "in an effort to boost the Cover Band's ticket sales for live performances and to give the false impression that Plaintiffs are performing."
That case is still ongoing, and a federal judge denied the band's motion to dismiss the founders' suit earlier this week. But as the suit continues, Cummings has taken a nuclear action, terminating the performing rights agreements for all the Guess Who songs he wrote, removing the copyright protections that allow the band (or anyone else) to perform hits like "American Woman" "These Eyes" and "No Time" at a concert. In effect, he shot himself in the foot to try to shoot the band in the face.
"I'm willing to do anything to stop the fake band; they're taking [Bachman and my] life story and pretending it's theirs," Cummings tells Rolling Stone. "They're not the people who made these records and they shouldn't act like they did. This doesn't stop this cover band from playing their shows, it just stops them from playing the songs I wrote. If the songs are performed by the fake Guess Who, they will be sued for every occurrence."
The strategy, to the group's chagrin, seems to be working, at least for now. Two shows were canceled over the weekend, with the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Cyprus Lake, Florida announcing that the show was canceled "due to an unforeseen issue with the music licensing." The Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce, Florida similarly made a last-minute cancellation Wednesday night, also citing the licensing dispute.
By Thursday morning, the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, the Saenger Theatre in Mobile, Alabama, and the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, Florida - who would've hosted the Guess Who's next three shows - announced cancellations as well. Tickets for shows beyond those dates remain on sale as of this article's publication.
An attorney for the Guess Who didn't respond to Rolling Stone's request for comment regarding the shows. In December, the band took to social media calling Cummings and Bachmans' suit "meritless." In a memorandum, the band argued that "there is no dispute that Defendants lawfully own ‘The Guess Who' trademark," and that Consumers who see an ad for a concert by the Guess Who would not reasonably assume that Bachman and Cummings are performing merely because they were in the band many years ago."
Assuming the group does play the classic era songs at their upcoming shows, both the band and the venue they played at could be on the hook for legal recourse, Cummings and his team tell Rolling Stone.
It may be a while,if ever,before they return.
Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are firing at the current "The Guess Who" with both barrels.
As Rolling Stone reported, Cummings and original Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman sued the current iteration of the Guess Who (as well as the band's original drummer and bass player Garry Peterson and Jim Kale) last October, alleging that the group that currently holds the Guess Who trademark is "a cover band" using the original group's recording in ads "in an effort to boost the Cover Band's ticket sales for live performances and to give the false impression that Plaintiffs are performing."
That case is still ongoing, and a federal judge denied the band's motion to dismiss the founders' suit earlier this week. But as the suit continues, Cummings has taken a nuclear action, terminating the performing rights agreements for all the Guess Who songs he wrote, removing the copyright protections that allow the band (or anyone else) to perform hits like "American Woman" "These Eyes" and "No Time" at a concert. In effect, he shot himself in the foot to try to shoot the band in the face.
"I'm willing to do anything to stop the fake band; they're taking [Bachman and my] life story and pretending it's theirs," Cummings tells Rolling Stone. "They're not the people who made these records and they shouldn't act like they did. This doesn't stop this cover band from playing their shows, it just stops them from playing the songs I wrote. If the songs are performed by the fake Guess Who, they will be sued for every occurrence."
The strategy, to the group's chagrin, seems to be working, at least for now. Two shows were canceled over the weekend, with the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Cyprus Lake, Florida announcing that the show was canceled "due to an unforeseen issue with the music licensing." The Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce, Florida similarly made a last-minute cancellation Wednesday night, also citing the licensing dispute.
By Thursday morning, the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, the Saenger Theatre in Mobile, Alabama, and the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, Florida - who would've hosted the Guess Who's next three shows - announced cancellations as well. Tickets for shows beyond those dates remain on sale as of this article's publication.
An attorney for the Guess Who didn't respond to Rolling Stone's request for comment regarding the shows. In December, the band took to social media calling Cummings and Bachmans' suit "meritless." In a memorandum, the band argued that "there is no dispute that Defendants lawfully own ‘The Guess Who' trademark," and that Consumers who see an ad for a concert by the Guess Who would not reasonably assume that Bachman and Cummings are performing merely because they were in the band many years ago."
Assuming the group does play the classic era songs at their upcoming shows, both the band and the venue they played at could be on the hook for legal recourse, Cummings and his team tell Rolling Stone.
