The ongoing FKA Twigs lawsuit over her stage name has taken another turn, with indie duo The Twigs firing back with a countersuit for trademark infringement.
Twin sisters Laura and Linda Good, who have performed as The Twigs for decades, filed their own complaint on this week. As reported by Rolling Stone, the sisters allege that since the release of her acclaimed 2019 album, Magdalene, FKA Twigs – real name Tahliah Barnett – has started dropping the “FKA” from her moniker in public appearances.
They claim she has “intentionally used her celebrity and resulting power […] 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”.
The indie band is now seeking a legal injunction to stop Barnett from using the name “FKA Twigs” entirely, along with unspecified financial damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
This countersuit comes about a month after Barnett sued the duo in April, claiming the sisters had sent multiple cease-and-desist letters trying to “weaponize these barred and unmeritorious trademark claims” for their own financial gain. According to NME, Barnett’s complaint stated The Twigs had demanded a “significant seven-figure payout” and threatened to block her from using her stage name.
Barnett’s initial lawsuit also alleged that she had previously offered the band $15,000 to allow their musical entities to “co-exist,” an offer which the sisters declined. The complaint noted, “Laura and Linda declined and stressed that they did not consent to this proposed co-existence”.
Back in 2014, Barnett was performing simply as ‘Twigs’ before legal pressure from the same duo forced her to add the prefix. At the time, her legal team cited precedents in their defence, noting that “Bands have routinely used derivative names in order to avoid consumer confusion. Dinosaur became Dinosaur Jr., blink became blink-182, Suede became the London Suede, and the Charlatans became the Charlatans U.K”.
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