The Lemon Twigs are staying out of it
I wonder what Twiggy thinks of it all
FKA Twigs – aka Tahliah Debrett Barnett – is bringing indie band The Twigs to court, after Laura and Linda Good — the twin sisters who make up the band — sent her multiple cease-and-desist letters from 2024 onwards.
The Good twins claim that Barnett should not be allowed to use her stage name until they receive compensation for its similarities to their own.
This follows a prior case the band brought up against FKA Twigs in 2014 for trademark infringement, which was ultimately dropped when the band’s request of a restraining order was denied.
FKA Twigs’ lawyers have criticised the Good twins’ most recent claim, claiming that it is “inconceivable” that the band’s name of “limited recognition” would be confused with that of a “globally recognised artist”.
“Defendants’ attempts to weaponise these claims… in order to disrupt Barnett’s over-a-decade-long, uninterrupted use of the FKA Twigs mark for defendants’ own gain… are improper and must cease,” they added.
Barnett’s legal team further argues that not only did the band spent several years inactive while FKA Twigs’ career has been growing, but also that their claim of a trademark violation is not backed up by the law.
The UK Trade Marks Act of 1994 states that ‘likelihood of confusion’ is a tenant of infringement. Barnett’s team claim that since the two acts operate in different genres, with different levels of fame, there is not much foundation for confusion.
This is the second public likeness-related story involving FKA Twigs in the past couple of years. In 2024, Barnett testified to the US Senate in support of the ‘No Fakes Act’, which was intended to prevent unauthorised use of AI to infringe people’s names, images and likenesses.
During that testimony, she also said that she had also “developed my own deepfake version of myself that is not only trained in my personality but also can use my exact tone of voice to speak many languages”.
“I will be engaging my AI twigs later this year to extend my reach and handle my online social media interactions, whilst I continue to focus on my art from the comfort and solace of my studio,” said Barnett at the time.
The bill ran out of time to be passed in the legislative session leading up to the US elections of 2024, so was reintroduced the following year, but has yet to pass as a piece of standalone legislation.
It may now be bundled into a new, bigger AI-focused bill whose draft was published by Senator Marsha Blackburn earlier this month.
