Race | Business | Music Industry| Trademark Lawsuit | Entrepreneurship
Band Lady A Versus Singer Lady A
How racial protest exposed a costly slip-up by artists in the music industry
Last year, the Grammy award-winning country band Lady Antebellum, announced a name change to show support for BLM, and that’s when the trouble began.
Decades earlier, the band had registered the name Lady A to sell their merchandise and were known by their fans as Lady A.
But Anita White, a Blues singer from Seattle Washington known as Lady A for more than 20 years, had also trademarked the name Lady A as a self-distributed artist.
According to the BBC, the band Lady A was unaware someone else was using the name. Apparently, Google and uspto.gov, the government’s free trademark database, were overlooked.
After a Zoom meeting broke down between the band and Anita White, the band filed a lawsuit over the disputed name but did not ask for money or legal fees. The band, formerly known as Lady Antebellum only wanted to ensure their right to use their brand, Lady A, along with Anita White.
Anita White counter-sued.
“Internet and social media searches for Lady A, which had readily returned results for her music, were now dominated by references to Lady Antebellum. Ms. White’s Lady A brand had been usurped and set on the path to erasure,” according to court papers filed by White’s lawyer. Katherine Singh
Several key issues are underscored in this conflict. For example, failure to choose a name by fact-checking its history through a multicultural lens, regardless of the social climate. And failure or misunderstanding of how to monitor a mark to ensure it is clear or not infringed upon.
Who followed or overlooked the confusing rules and regulations after registering the trademark? The band or the blues singer? Or maybe both?
Lady A versus Lady A is a sobering reminder of how important the internet and social media can be for a solo self-distributed artist.
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