Jon "Bowzer" Bauman (AP Photo)

"Music artists work for years to build names for themselves in the entertainment industry," Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Tuesday after signing the amendments to the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law. "We should not allow others to impersonate their work and profit from that deception."

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Called the "Truth in Music Advertising Law," it prohibits copycat performances that attempt to cash in through false and misleading representations like names, billings and promotions similar to the original artists. Enforcement by the state attorney general's office can bring civil penalties ranging from $5,000 to $15,000.

The measure was inspired when well-known recording artists like the Platters, the Coasters and the Drifters suffered financial losses when their acts and routines were copied without permission, according to the governor's office.

The Drifters, a doo-wop vocal group, first formed in the 1950s at Atlantic Records, had a string of '60s hits like "This Magic Moment" and "Under the Boardwalk," and an array of members through decades of recording and performing. Several early members are dead.

The legislation has been dubbed the "Bowzer Bill" for Jon "Bowzer" Bauman of the band Sha Na Na who has lobbied lawmakers in Albany and other state capitals. He says that while there are Drifters, Coasters and Platters performing with an authentic recording member of the band, there are many others with none.

"There are some groups that have been really very heavily damaged by this, for the most part the groups that had the most hit records from the doo-wop era," Bauman said. "Unscrupulous people have abused those names and they are putting out multiple impostor groups under those names. We don't even know how many there are."

The law requires performing groups to have at least one member of the recording group that they claim a connection to and a legal right to use the name. Or else they must label the production a "tribute" or "salute" or else own the recording group's trademark or have its authorization.

Sen. John Flanagan, a Long Island Republican who sponsored the bill, said that while some old hits endure, the law should protect both the band's reputation and concertgoers from fraud.

"Fans want to see the groups they love and should get what they pay for," said Assemblyman Peter Rivera, a Bronx Democrat and another sponsor.

Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maine, South Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia, New Jersey, Florida, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas and Nevada have enacted similar laws, according to the Truth in Music Committee of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation. California and a few other states are expected to follow shortly, said foundation President Bob Crosby.

"A lot of these groups have spent their life savings chasing the predators in litigation. It's been really tough because there's always another gig and the gigs happen faster than the litigation," Crosby said. "No one is in favor of fake groups except for the impostors. It's a form of identity theft."

The next step is enforcement, Bauman said. There are ongoing actions in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with one coming soon in Nevada, he said.

Attorney William Charron, representing Singer Management and Live Gold Operations, obtained a temporary restraining order Friday in a New Jersey federal court to block the attorney general from interfering with a show at the Atlantic City Hilton by their groups the Elsberry Hobbs Drifters, the Cornell Gunter Coasters and the Platters, he said. They're scheduled to return to court Sept. 7, seeking a preliminary injunction.

"The arguments were constitutional, that our clients have valid licenses to these trademarks," Charron said. He said the law "has the potential for misuse. That's where our clients find themselves unfortunately caught. They deserve to have their names cleared," he said.