Burton Cummings is taking action to stop the fake Guess Who.
Cummings and the original guitarist, Randy Bachman, decided to sue the current Guess Who members in October to stop them from using the band’s name. The case has been going on for over a decade.
A federal judge recently rejected the band’s attempt to dismiss the case. Meanwhile, Cummings canceled the performing rights agreements for all the Guess Who songs he wrote. So, the copyright protection allowing the band to perform ‘American Woman,’ ‘These Eyes,’ and ‘No Time’ at concerts has been removed.
Cummings told Rolling Stone about the case:
“I’m willing to do anything to stop the fake band; they’re taking [Bachman and my] life story and pretending it’s theirs. 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 Risk Of The Decision
According to Rolling Stone, places that booked the Guess Who might get into trouble if the band keeps playing Cummings’ songs without permission. The Guess Who had to cancel their next five gigs because of Cummings’ actions. This move both messed up Guess Who’s plans, and put Cummings at risk.
The action he is taking has its own risks, but the singer is okay with it because he knows ‘the name is worthless without the songs’:
“Yes, I’m going to lose some money, but we’re going to find out what’s worth what. I will not have this fake band going on any longer. I’m going to lose some money, but … the name is worthless without those songs. So what are they going to do? ‘Hey, the Guess Who is playing but we can’t do ‘Share the Land’ or ‘American Woman,’ we can’t do ‘These Eyes.’ Nobody’s gonna be there.”
In the 2023 lawsuit, Bachman and Cummings were asking for over $20 million in damages. The singer says this latest decision isn’t about cash and that is why he’s giving up his income source.