The Twigs Countersues FKA Twigs Over Stage Name

An indie pop duo known as The Twigs has countersued singer and performer FKA Twigs in a New York federal court, seeking to bar her from using her stage name and alleging she has leveraged her fame to undermine their longstanding trademark.

The countersuit, filed on May 11 in the Southern District of New York by twin sisters Laura Good and Linda Good, responds to FKA Twigs' lawsuit from March. The artist, whose legal name is Tahliah Barnett, had asked the court to declare that her use of FKA Twigs does not infringe on The Twigs' trademark, which the Los Angeles-based duo registered in 1996 for music and entertainment services. The Good sisters now seek a permanent injunction prohibiting Barnett from using FKA Twigs, Twigs, or any similar name in performances, recordings, or related goods and services. They also request that her pending U.S. trademark application for FKA Twigs be blocked and seek unspecified damages, including punitive awards, for alleged trademark infringement and unfair competition.

The dispute traces back more than a decade. In 2013, Barnett emailed the sisters acknowledging their prior use of The Twigs, which they had employed since 1994, and sought their...