FKA Twigs sues indie band The Twigs over ‘weaponised’ trademark claims

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, Rolling Stone reports.

In court documents seen by the outlet, Barnett claims the Twigs have known about her use of FKA Twigs since 2013.

She offered the band $15,000 (£11,000) to allow the musical entities to “co-exist”, without needing to purchase the name from the band. But “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 compares FKA Twigs’ 3.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify with the Twigs’ 25. The numbers are claimed to function as proof that “the parties operate in entirely different commercial ecosystems”, and therefore it would be highly unlikely that audiences would confuse the two acts.

In May 2024, the Twigs allegedly attempted to “weaponise” trademark claims by issuing cease-and-desist letters to the Two Weeks singer, “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 papers read.

The Twigs have allegedly demanded a seven-figure payout.

Barnett has requested a jury trial to address the rights to use and registration of the FKA Twigs trademark.