FKA Twigs has been in varying degrees of a trademark dispute with indie duo The Twigs since 2014. As of May 2026, the issues have escalated, and there seems to be no sign of a settlement on the horizon.
In March 2026, FKA Twigs (real name Tahliah Barnett) filed a lawsuit against The Twigs (twin sisters Laura and Linda Good). The suit claimed that the sisters were sending cease and desist letters that threatened to take Barnett to court over trademark infringement. Allegedly, Barnett would not be able to use her stage name unless she complied with a “seven-figure payout.”
“Defendants’ attempts to weaponize these barred and unmeritorious trademark 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,” wrote Barnett’s lawyers, per a report from Billboard.
FKA Twigs’ Trademark Dispute With Indie Duo The Twigs Began in 2014
As of May 11, however, the Goods responded with a countersuit against Barnett. The suit claimed that The Twigs’ career had been stifled by Barnett’s use of a similar name.
“Barnett’s use of her greater fame, record label backing, resources, celebrity, and market presence to overwhelm The Twigs’ goodwill and misappropriate it infringes counterclaim-plaintiffs’ trademark rights,” the countersuit stated.
The trademark dispute between The Twigs and FKA Twigs has escalated since it began in 2014. Then, Laura and Linda Good first sued Tahliah Barnett for violating their trademark, which they’d owned since 1996. Eventually, they dropped the lawsuit after losing out on their initial request.
The Twigs dropped a lawsuit, only to send a cease-and-desist letter to Barnett years later
In 2024, Barnett applied for her own trademark of the name. The Goods sent a cease and desist letter after staying quiet for 10 years. They requested that Barnett stop using the FKA Twigs stage name, and Barnett sued them in response this past March.
Barnett’s lawsuit claimed the Goods attempted to “weaponize” their dispute to get a payout from Barnett. But this new countersuit from the Goods rejected those claims. It also laid out the reason they renewed the dispute after a decade.
In 2014, Barnett initially debuted under the name “Twigs”. Soon after, she adopted the “FKA” acronym, which could be related to the Goods’ complaint at the time. The Twigs claimed they weren’t bothered by the distinction because Barnett was more active in the acting and dance scenes at the time. In contrast, they remained an indie music act.
FKA Twigs released her fourth album, ‘Eusexua: Afterglow’, in 2025
But in 2019, FKA Twigs made waves in pop music with her album Magdalene. She continued to climb the industry ladder, where The Twigs claim she often dropped the “FKA” from her name during public appearances.
“Barnett intentionally used her celebrity and resulting power with the media to act in ways designed to increase the public’s association of Barnett and her musical services with ‘Twigs,’ while eroding and overwhelming counterclaim-plaintiffs’ goodwill … in those same musical channels of commerce,” the countersuit stated.
As it stands, Laura and Linda Good are looking to bar Tahliah Barnett from using the FKA Twigs stage name. This would likely extend to any other Twigs-adjacent names as well. They are also seeking financial damages for trademark infringement. However, the amount remains unspecified.
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