In the latest turn of the long-running saga, The Twigs have alleged that the artist used her fame to “weaken, if not destroy” their intellectual property
FKA twigs has been hit with a countersuit in the latest turn of a long-running legal saga between herself and The Twigs over the former’s artist name,
FKA twigs, real name Tahliah Barnett, filed a lawsuit against 90s duo The Twigs in March in a bid to secure full rights to her artist name following a legal back-and-forth that had been taking place between the two acts since 2013. Billboard now reports, though, that The Twigs have responded to that with their own complaint, which was filed earlier this week, and claimed that Barnett had used her greater fame in a bid to “weaken, if not destroy” The Twigs’ intellectual property.
The countersuit reads: “Barnett’s use of her greater fame, record label backing, resources, celebrity and market presence to overwhelm The Twigs’ goodwill and misappropriate it infringes counterclaim-plaintiffs’ trademark rights.”
The legal action adds that Barnett didn’t get in their way for some years after adding the ‘FKA’ prefix to her name because she was primarily based in the United Kingdom, and spent an extended period focusing on acting and dancing rather than music before the release of 2019’s MAGDAELENE. The duo say that changed in the years after, though, as Barnett re-entered the scene and signed a deal with Atlantic Records, as well as filing a trademark application for her name with last year’s Grammy-winning EUSEXUA album following that.
The Twigs also allege that Barnett started to drop the ‘FKA’ prefix from her name in certain public appearances in more recent years. “Barnett 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,” the countersuit claims.
The Twigs, a sisterly duo formed of Laura and Linda Good, are seeking a legal injunction to block Barnett from using the name FKA twigs going forward. They also want financial compensation for trademark infringement.
