FKA Twigs countersued by indie band The Twigs over trademark infringement claims

A decade-old dispute gets a new chapter

The legal war between FKA Twigs (born Tahliah Barnett) and Los Angeles-based indie duo The Twigs, formed by twin sisters Laura Good and Linda Good, has escalated. According to Billboard, which first obtained the filing, the sisters countersued the Eusexua artist on May 11, leveling their own trademark infringement claims after FKA Twigs had initiated a lawsuit earlier this year seeking a declaration that her stage name does not infringe their moniker.

The countersuit argues that Barnett used "her greater fame, record label backing, resources, celebrity and market presence" to overwhelm The Twigs' goodwill and misappropriate their trademark rights.

A timeline with deep roots

This is not their first time in court. The Twigs originally sued FKA Twigs back in 2014, asserting a trademark they had owned since 1996. They dropped the case after losing an initial injunction request, and the conflict went quiet for roughly a decade.

Things shifted again in 2024, when The Twigs opposed FKA Twigs' application for her own trademark and sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding she stop using the name. FKA Twigs responded in March by suing the sisters, claiming they were trying to "weaponize" baseless claims to extract a seven-figure settlement.

The countersuit's core argument

The Twigs argue that FKA Twigs had, for years, kept a reasonable distance. She was primarily UK-based, more focused on acting and dancing than music, held no trademarks, and consistently used the prefix "FKA" to distinguish herself. That changed, they say, when she re-entered the music scene with her album Magdelene in 2019. In the years that followed, she signed with Atlantic Records, filed a trademark application, and released the Grammy-winning album Eusexua. Around that same time, the sisters allege, she began dropping the "FKA" in certain public appearances.

The Twigs are now asking a court to bar FKA Twigs from using the stage name entirely, and are also seeking unspecified financial damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition. Reps for FKA Twigs had not returned a request for comment as of May 12.