It took greater than a 12 months – and one terribly drastic authorized measure – however the Guess Who has settled an argument over management of the band.

Classic-era frontman Burton Cummings and co-founding guitarist Randy Bachman filed swimsuit in 2023 in opposition to authentic members Jim Kale and Garry Peterson over false promoting claims. Kale and Peterson had continued to tour because the Guess Who even after Bachman after which Cummings departed – giving the impression that followers would see the creators of such hits as “American Woman,” “No Time,” “These Eyes” and “Undun.” Instead, Bachman and Cummings described the act as a “cover band.”

Cummings then took issues one step additional, terminating the performing rights for these hits. No one, together with the touring version of the Guess Who, can be allowed to sing their songs – and royalty funds from live shows, TV and film placements and radio performs abruptly stopped. The transfer was each unprecedented and efficient.

READ MORE: How the Guess Who Carried on After Randy Bachman

“It was painful, but we’d have done it indefinitely just to stop that fake band from taking over our history,” Cummings tells Rolling Stone. “They took over streaming sites; they were using old photos of me and Randy. It gets me going thinking about it, but that’s over. It’s a painful success. It cost a lot of money with lawyers and I gave up a lot of publishing money, but we finally won this terrible battle.”

Details of this new settlement weren’t launched, however Cummings and Bachman affirm that trademark particulars have been labored out with Peterson after hours of mediation in Los Angeles. They each expressed reduction that this ugly standoff was over. Cummings is even speaking about touring once more.

“If there is a group out there calling themselves the Guess Who, it’s going to have the lead singer who wrote the songs and the guitarist who made the riffs,” he stated. “It’s going to have Bachman and Cummings in it. I say ‘if’ because we don’t know. Randy has a lot of bookings and I’ve got solo gigs. What we do know is that Randy and I are happy because there isn’t a fake Guess Who out there anymore.”

Who Owns the Guess Who Trademark?

The Guess Who apparently by no means filed a trademark for the band identify throughout their turn-of-the-’70s glory years. Kale belatedly secured one in 1986, then started mounting excursions because the Guess Who. Peterson rejoined him within the late ’80s, although the remainder of the lineup usually modified. Then Kale retired in 2016 and Peterson started taking part in extra occasionally, leaving the Guess Who with none direct connection to the previous.

It was a bridge too far for Cummings. “We’re trying to preserve the history and the legacy of the Guess Who for our fans all over the place who have followed the real band and the real songs,” he stated.

What turns into of the group that had been calling themselves the Guess Who is unclear. Their Facebook web page has vanished. The band’s official account on X has been scrubbed of all content material besides a screenshot and hyperlink to protection of this settlement – and an older publish selling their most up-to-date album, 2023’s Plein D’Amour. Cummings stated the LP goes to be faraway from the Guess Who’s official discography, although Plein D’Amour stays on Spotify.

“I’m not concerned with the other band. Don’t even know who they are. It doesn’t matter to me,” Bachman stated. “When you’re a football player, you’re not thinking about who gets traded for you when you get signed by a team. As far as I know, they’ve been earning a living for decades, trading off the Guess Who names and playing the songs that Burton and I wrote, pretending they were us.”