Are cover bands illegal?!

Not only are the tribute acts performing the songs of the original act, they are trading off the name, brand, images and reputation of the original act, making on average, $500 per night per member, while a successful tribute act can gross over $10,000 a night during peak season, Lawyer Drummer points out in a great article, questioning whether these acts are illegal. Sometimes they are - if the original act can show that they lost audiences or live revenue as a result of the tribute act, or that their fans were being tricked into believing that a tribute act was the genuine original act, then there would be a strong case for legal action, LD argues. In 2010, fifteen ABBA tribute acts had to stop using the name "ABBA" (so now there's, for example, Arrival from Sweden), and in 2009 a Bon Jovi tribute band Blonde Jovi had to change their name due to “likelihood of confusion”, although all the member of the tribute act - are women (pictured above).