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Abba sues Abba Mania for trademark infringement
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 7 December 2021
Abba have sued a UK-based company that stages tribute shows under the brand Abba Mania. That activity, the actual Abba say, is “parasitic” and constitutes trademark infringement.
The Abba Mania shows – run by UK firm Handshake – have been staged since 2000, including an eighteen week West End run in 2002. The decision by Abba’s company Polar Music International to go legal now is likely linked to the fact the group are finally returning to the live music business themselves, albeit in holographic form.
The trademark infringement lawsuit has been filed in the US, where a tour of Abba Mania shows kicked off back in October. Among other things, the legal filing claims that “defendants include the term ‘official’ and ‘original’ in many of their marketing materials, website pages, and social media handles, which gives consumers the impression that there is some kind of association, affiliation, or sponsorship between Abba and Abba Mania”.
In then adds: “Defendants have not obtained written consent from plaintiff or any representative of plaintiff to use the Abba mark or infringing Abba Mania mark … the goods and services offered by defendants under the infringing Abba Mania mark are not approved by plaintiff or any representative of plaintiff”.
The lawsuit also says that Abba’s company approached the producers of Abba Mania in October and, “in an attempt to amicably resolve this dispute, explained how defendants could properly use the phrase ‘Abba Tribute’ in a non-confusing manner to describe their tribute act so long as the actual name of the tribute act did not include the word Abba. But defendants refused to comply and cease use of the name Abba Mania”.
The Abba Mania website does include the line “Abba Mania is no way associated, affiliated, or endorsed by Polar Music or Abba”, at the bottom of the whole site and in a prominent box at the top of the web pages relating to its US tour. Clearly that’s not enough of a clarification for Abba themselves. Whether it will be sufficient to sidestep liability for trademark infringement within the US remains to be seen.
