Guess Who Settles Issue Of Who Controls The Band
After nearly a year of intense legal battles and a bold, unprecedented move, the original members of The Guess Who have resolved their dispute over control of the band. Classic-era frontman Burton Cummings and co-founding guitarist Randy Bachman filed a lawsuit in October 2023 against original members Jim Kale and Garry Peterson. The suit revolved around claims of false advertising, as Kale and Peterson had continued to tour under The Guess Who’s name, even after both Bachman and Cummings, the creators of hits like “American Woman,” “No Time,” “These Eyes,” and “Undun,” had left the band. Later, even Kale and Peterson stepped back from touring, but fans were allegedly still led to believe they were seeing the original lineup.
In the lawsuit, Bachman and Cummings argued that the current touring version of the band was essentially just a “cover band.” Cummings then took an extraordinary step by revoking the performing rights for the band’s classic songs. This bold move meant no one, including the newer lineup of The Guess Who could perform their hits, and it also halted royalty payments from concerts, radio, TV, and movie placements. Cummings told Rolling Stone:
“It was painful, but we’d have done it indefinitely just to stop that fake band from taking over our history.
“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.”
While specific terms of the settlement were not disclosed, Cummings and Bachman confirmed that they had agreed on shared trademark rights with Kale and Peterson following lengthy mediation in Los Angeles. Both expressed relief that this dispute had come to an end. Cummings is now considering touring again. He said:
“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.
“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 Holds the Rights to The Guess Who Name?
It appears that The Guess Who never officially filed a trademark for their band name during their peak years in the early ’70s. Jim Kale secured a belated trademark in 1986, allowing him to tour as The Guess Who. Garry Peterson rejoined him in the late ’80s, but the lineup frequently changed. When Kale retired in 2016, Peterson’s involvement also dwindled, leaving a band that had no direct ties to the original lineup.
For Cummings, this situation was unacceptable. He said:
“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.”
As for the future of the group that had been calling themselves The Guess Who, things remain unclear. Their Facebook page has disappeared, and their official account on X has been wiped clean except for a post linking to coverage of this settlement and a mention of their latest album, 2023’s Plein D’Amour. Cummings noted that the album will be removed from The Guess Who’s official discography, although it is still available on Spotify.
Randy Bachman remains unfazed by what happens next with the other band. He said:
“I’m not concerned with the other band. Don’t even know who they are. It doesn’t matter to me.
“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.”
