Mary Wilson of The Supremes this week continued her legal bid to ensure Supremes tribute acts clearly state they are not the originals. Wilson has lobbied the State Senate of Missouri requesting they introduce laws that prevent tribute acts from implying they are somehow connected to the bands they pay tribute to. Campaigners want Missouri and other US states to adopt rules like those passed by Illinois last June which say tribute acts could be fined up to $50,000 and be banned from performing if they do not clearly state their tribute band status.
Wilson has led a number of costly and often unsuccessful lawsuits over the years against Supremes tribute acts who use vague marketing techniques to imply they are the original group. Speaking to the Missouri Senate this week she said that the public were often deceived when they attended concerts by groups claiming to be The Supremes, or other legendary pop groups, because they were not aware how easy it was for said groups to masquerade as the originals. "They're taking our history", she said "they're taking our legacies. We have given America and the world many hours of happiness. We are American national treasures. We want to get the impostor groups out of the way. I want the Supremes to go down in history, just like the Beatles".
If Missouri pass the proposed rules tribute acts would not be allowed to perform under other groups' names, unless they have authorisation from the original group, own the trademark to the name, have at least one member of the original group among their number, or if they clearly state they are a tribute act in all their publicity. Ten other states are known to be considering similar laws.