SEATTLE — A high profile legal battle between Seattle blues singer Lady A and the country stars formerly known as Lady Antebellum seems to have reached an abrupt conclusion.
The two sides filed a joint motion in a Tennessee court on Monday to dismiss dueling lawsuits over the use of the name "Lady A."
In the weeks following George Floyd's murder in 2020, the Nashville band formally changed its name to Lady A, a longtime fan nickname, dropping the word "antebellum," which critics have argued romanticizes the pre-Civil War South. The band claimed it was unaware that the Lady A moniker was already being used by Seattle artist Anita "Lady A" White.
It's unclear if a settlement was reached over use of the name and representatives for both artists did not immediately respond to requests for comment. According to court documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, both parties will cover their own costs and attorney fees.
After Nashville's Lady A learned of the Seattle singer, who had been singing under the "Lady A" name for decades, the two sides discussed ways to amicably proceed in the summer of 2020. Negotiations broke down after White's camp proposed a $10 million settlement — half of which she would use to rebrand herself and half to be given to various charities of her choosing. That July, the country band initiated a lawsuit asking the courts to affirm its right to the name "Lady A," a trademark the band first registered in 2010, according to the complaint. The band did not seek any monetary damages from White, nor did it aim to stop her from using the name. Lady A has long been a nickname for the group that released its debut album in 2008.
In an interview with The Seattle Times that summer, White described the fight for the name as an issue bigger than herself. She criticized the Nashville stars for eclipsing a Black artist with a gesture ostensibly meant to show their allyship.
"I've been working my butt off since before those kids were born," White said in 2020. "But your privilege is going to allow you to take something from me or ... decide that I have to share the name with you, knowing full well that ... you're going to wipe me off social media, therefore you are still taking from me."
In September 2020, White filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the band. The suit contended that White had accrued common law rights to the Lady A trademark due to the prominent use of the name since at least the early 1990s, and that she has nationwide common law rights to the trademark since she started performing under the name outside of Washington state since at least the early 2000s. The local blues, funk and gospel vet began using the name while singing karaoke in the 1980s.
While the lawsuits dragged on, White has continued performing around the Seattle area, delivering a rousing set at Everett's Fisherman's Village Music Festival last September. White could not immediately be reached Tuesday afternoon, but the outgoing message on her voicemail included a biblical quote: "No weapon formed against me shall prosper."
