FKA Twigs has filed a lawsuit against the Twigs, the indie band fronted by twin sisters Laura Good and Linda Good. The artist born Tahliah Barnett claims that the duo issued multiple cease-and-desist letters over the trademark connected to her stage name.
In court documents reviewed by Rolling Stone, Barnett claims the Twigs have known about her use of FKA Twigs since 2013, around which time they exchanged correspondence relating to the “likelihood of confusion between her stage name and their band’s name.” In their email exchange, Barnett offered the band $15,000 to allow their musical entities to “co-exist,” without needing to purchase the name from the band. According to the documents, “Laura and Linda declined and stressed that they did not consent to this proposed co-existence.”
Barnett continued to build her career as FKA Twigs, while the Twigs “simply disappeared,” the document reads. Evidence in the filing notes that FKA Twigs boasts 3.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify and more than 300 million views on YouTube, while the Twigs “have 67 subscribers and 19,332 views on YouTube, 705 followers on Instagram, and 25 monthly listeners on Spotify.” The numbers function as proof that “the parties operate in entirely different commercial ecosystems,” and therefore it would be “inconceivable” that audiences would confuse the two acts.
In May 2024, according to the lawsuit, the Twigs allegedly attempted to “weaponize these barred and unmeritorious trademark claims” by issuing cease-and-desist letters to Barnett “threatening litigation, including threats to enjoin Barnett’s use of her mark, in order to disrupt Barnett’s decade-long, uninterrupted use of the FKA TWIGS mark for Defendants’ own gain.”
The Twigs allegedly “have threatened to seek an injunction preventing Barnett from using her stage name, demanded a significant seven-figure payout to release any alleged claims against Barnett.”
Representatives for FKA Twigs declined to comment. The Twigs did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Barnett has requested a jury trial to address the rights to use and registration of the FKA Twigs trademark.
