Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings have announced the resolution of a longstanding trademark dispute with former Guess Who bandmates Garry Peterson and Jim Kale.
Bachman and Cummings, founding guitarist and frontperson of the Guess Who, filed a lawsuit last October alleging that Kale and Peterson had devised a "deceptive scheme" that led concertgoers to believe they were involved with a group of musicians touring and recording under the Guess Who name.
While details of the settlement remain confidential, Bachman and Cummings now hold the trademark rights to "The Guess Who," while all four former bandmates have "expressed their appreciation to one another in a spirit of unity going forward," per a release
"We are pleased to have reached a resolution that honors our shared history and allows us to move forward with a new sense of purpose and camaraderie," shared Bachman in a statement.
"We are committed to preserving and celebrating the legacy for our fans around the world," added Cummings.
Bachman and Cummings had sought over $20 USD million in damages, and a court order for Peterson and Kale to notify the public that they were in fact not involved in the current iteration of the band.
The two had alleged that the current Guess Who had used photos of the founding members to dupe listeners into buying tickets, while also removing images of Bachman and Cummings from the band's profiles on streaming platforms, and using songs written by the duo without proper licenses.
The Guess Who disbanded in 1975, though both Kale and Peterson have respectively toured and recorded under the name off-and-on since that decade, without the involvement of original members.