FKA twigs Takes Legal Action Against The Twigs Over Trademark Dispute
FKA twigs (Tahliah Barnett) is suing the '90s band The Twigs over trademark issues related to her stage name, escalating a long-standing dispute.
FKA twigs, the avant-garde artist born Tahliah Barnett, is locked in a legal battle with the '90s alt-pop duo, The Twigs. The core of the conflict? The rights to the "FKA twigs" trademark. Barnett has officially filed a lawsuit, seeking a jury trial to resolve the dispute, claiming the duo has repeatedly sent cease-and-desist letters regarding her stage name.
According to the lawsuit, Laura Good and Linda Good, the twin sisters behind The Twigs, have been aware of Barnett's stage name since 2013. Discussions even took place about the potential for confusion between the names. Back then, Barnett, still performing as the Twigs, reportedly offered the duo $15,000 to allow both projects to coexist, without purchasing the name outright. The Twigs declined. The Twigs then sued Barnett in 2014. In response, she officially changed her moniker to FKA twigs — a name change that they believed wasn’t different enough to avoid mixups.
FKA-twigs
In May 2024, The Twigs allegedly escalated the conflict by issuing cease-and-desist letters to Barnett, threatening litigation to disrupt her decade-long use of the FKA twigs mark. Barnett's lawsuit claims The Twigs demanded a significant seven-figure payout to relinquish any alleged claims against her.
Barnett is now seeking the rights to use and register the FKA twigs trademark, a decision she hopes will be determined in a jury trial. As evidence, she points out that The Twigs, formed in 1994, have effectively "disappeared" since their initial correspondence over a decade ago.
The legal documents highlight the stark contrast in their current reach. FKA twigs boasts 3.2 million monthly Spotify listeners and over 300 million YouTube views, while The Twigs have a modest 67 subscribers and 19,332 views on YouTube, 705 followers on Instagram, and 25 monthly listeners on Spotify. This, according to Barnett, proves that the parties operate in entirely different commercial ecosystems.
This past November, FKA twigs released EUSEXUA Afterglow, a new album paired with a reimagined version of her third studio album, EUSEXUA. The original version of that LP earned Barnett her first-ever Grammy Award as FKA twigs last month. “I know to a lot of people I may be new, but I’ve actually been doing this a really long time,” she said during her acceptance speech. “To any artist: Don’t give up, follow your vision, do you, because that’s what’s going to make the world fall in love with your art.”
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