Fifties supergroup the Platters are coming to Hong Kong. Perhaps. It seems the crooners are less a band than a franchise. There will be a five-piece band called the Platters singing hits such as Only You at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on December 14. But it is one of more than 20 different groups claiming to be the Platters, say lawyers trying to sort out the mess.
Some involve former Platters, their children, wives or managers. Trying to decide which of them has the right to use the name has kept lawyers busy for years, with the copyright case being fought all the way to the United States Court of Final Appeal. So will the band charging $580 a ticket and singing The Great Pretender in Hong Kong be the real thing? SAR rang the promoter, Wolfman Jack Entertainment (Hong Kong). 'They are the ones - the real Platters,' said spokesman Roks Lam. Then he conceded the original Platters were all dead bar one. 'But we have the right to use the name,' he said.
In the latest legal round, however, hadn't Herb Reed (the last surviving Platter, and not in the band coming here) won rights to the name the Platters from the US Patent and Trademark Office? 'Well,' Lam said. 'I got these Platters from our US office so you'd better call them.'
We did, and are still waiting for an answer. Whatever the news, it's unlikely to be a case of Only You.