Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood, and Hillary Scott have been slapped with a lawsuit by blues singer Anita White for trademark infringement amid debacle over their new moniker.
- September 17, 2020
AceShowbiz - Blues singer Anita White is suing country band Lady Antebellum for trademark infringement after they changed their name.
The "Need You Now" hitmakers decided to shorten the group name to Lady A earlier this summer (20), after acknowledging the 'Antebellum' of their former moniker was too closely linked to Southern U.S. culture, when slavery was legal.
However, Washington-based musician White was left unimpressed with the switch as she has been performing as Lady A for decades, and the dispute then turned nasty, with bandmates Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood, and Hillary Scott taking the 62 year old to court for her "attempt to enforce purported trademarks rights."
White has now hit back with a lawsuit of her own, with the legal papers stating, "Lady Antebellum's decision to replace the name Lady Antebellum with Lady A was undertaken with wilful disregard of Ms. White's rights in her Lady A trademark, which she has used for nearly thirty years."
Adding that the trio has caused "tortious injury" to White with their name change, the documents continued to explain that while she and Lady A held a video conference to try and reach an agreement about the name, they were "unable to reach a resolution."
Representatives for Lady A have yet to respond to the latest lawsuit.
