(Reuters) – The popular country band Lady A and blues singer Anita White, who also goes by Lady A, are ending their trademark dispute over the name, according to court filings in Tennessee and Seattle.
The band, formerly known as Lady Antebellum, changed its name to Lady A in the wake of protests over the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, saying its eyes had been “opened wide to the injustices, inequality, and biases Black women and men have always faced.”
White, a Black woman who has used the same name for decades, alleged the band’s use of the name was erasing her from the market.
The parties agreed on Monday to drop the cases “with prejudice,” which means they can’t be refiled. Their attorneys didn’t immediately respond to requests for more information.
The band announced its name change in June 2020. In a statement, it noted the association of “antebellum” with slavery.
White told Rolling Stone magazine the next day that Lady A was her brand, and that the band was using the name as an “opportunity for them to pretend they’re not racist.”
The band filed a lawsuit against White in Nashville, Tennessee the next month, arguing it had used “Lady A” as a shorthand brand name for years without issue and received federal trademarks for it in 2011. It asked the court to declare that it didn’t infringe White’s common-law trademark rights, and that the names could coexist.
