Who Owns ‘Twigs’? FKA twigs Claps Back Against 90s Duo

Photo Credit: FKA twigs (Instagram)

FKA twigs has now filed suit against 90s alt-pop duo The Twigs after the group issued numerous cease-and-desist letters over her trademarked stage name. It’s the latest battle in a far bigger war over who gets to use ‘twigs’ — and how.

Who gets to claim the stage name “twigs?” Let’s see: FKA twigs has now filed a lawsuit against 90s alt-pop duo ‘The Twigs’ with allegations that the duo has issued numerous cease-and-desist letters over her stage name’s associated trademark. To settle the matter, FKA twigs—who was born Tahliah Barnett—is requesting a trial by jury.

Barnett’s lawsuit claims that The Twigs, twin sisters Laura Good and Linda Good, have been aware of her stage name since 2013, when she was calling herself simply “Twigs.” Back then, the twins exchanged messages with her about the “likelihood of confusion between her stage name and their band’s name.” Barnett reportedly offered the twins $15,000 to allow their music projects to “co-exist” without having to resort to purchasing the name from the duo.

“Laura and Linda declined and stressed that they did not consent to this proposed co-existence,” the lawsuit reads.

Instead, the duo sued Barnett in 2014, and she changed her stage name to FKA twigs in response. However, the Good sisters did not feel this change was significant enough to prevent fan confusion.

Fast forward to May 2024, when The Twigs allegedly tried to “weaponize these barred and unmeritorious trademark claims,” by issuing cease-and-desist letters to Barnett “threatening litigation,” including but not limited to disrupting her trademark. The Goods allegedly have “threatened to seek an injunction preventing Barnett from using her stage name, [and] demanded a significant seven-figure payout to release any alleged claims against Barnett.”

Now, Barnett is asking for the rights to use and register the FKA twigs trademark, per a jury’s decision. She points out that, at the time her legal documents were filed, FKA twigs had 3.2 million monthly Spotify listeners and over 300 million YouTube views, while The Twigs have “67 subscribers and 19,332 views on YouTube, 705 followers on Instagram, and 25 monthly listeners on Spotify.” This, she says, is proof that “the parties operate in entirely different commercial ecosystems,” and therefore couldn’t be confused for one another.

She also notes that The Twigs, who formed in 1994, have “simply disappeared” since their correspondence with her over a decade ago.

FKA twigs earned her first Grammy last month, and her EUSEXUA tour in support of the reimagined version of her third studio album of the same name has led to her first sold-out arena show at Madison Square Garden.