FKA Twigs is being countersued by an indie band called The Twigs, as they claim she is allegedly using her money and fame to “destroy” their trademark. This suit is a response to the one originally made by FKA Twigs, where she asked the judge to rule that her stage name does not infringe on the band name The Twigs.
The parties’ legal disputes actually go pretty far back. NME reports that they actually went to court in 2014, when The Twigs sued her for infringing on the trademark the band has used since 1996. The band ended up dropping that lawsuit after losing an initial injunction request. However, that was nowhere near the end, as they delivered a cease-and-desist letter to FKA Twigs, making the same request for her to change her name in 2024.
After that, FKA Twigs fired back with her own lawsuit in March of this year, where she claimed they were allegedly trying to “weaponise” baseless claims with the goal of making money off of her. Rolling Stone claims that court documents showed that FKA Twigs offered to pay The Twigs $15,000 to coexist with each name, despite similarities. She also claimed that it is “inconceivable” that audiences would mistake her with the band, as she has 3.2 million monthly listeners while the band only has 25. However, the group declined the offer.
The Twigs filed a countersuit this week, on May 11th, with the band claiming that the reason they didn’t win the initial lawsuit in 2014 was due to FKA Twigs being based in the UK at the time and focused most of her energy on dancing rather than music. The countersuit claims that FKA Twigs has made moves that “weaken, if not destroy” The Twigs’ intellectual property rights. Billboard reports that the lawsuit claims that “Barnett (FKA Twigs) intentionally used her celebrity and resulting power with the media to act in ways designed to increase the public’s association of Barnett and her musical services with ‘Twigs,’ while eroding and overwhelming counterclaim-plaintiffs’ goodwill … in those same musical channels of commerce.” To summarize, The Twigs are seeking ruling that would prohibit FKA Twigs from using her stage name, as well as financial compensation for their trademark being infringed on and for what they claim to be unfair competition. Neither party has issued a statement to the public regarding this countersuit at this time.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
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