ABBA has filed a case against the Abba Mania cover band

Key takeaways:

• On Friday, ABBA, the Swedish pop supergroup, launched a lawsuit to stop a British tribute band, Abba Mania, from using the name.

ABBA, the Swedish pop supergroup, filed a lawsuit on Friday to prevent Abba Mania, a British tribute band, from using the name.

According to a complaint filed in the United States District Court in Manhattan, lawyers representing ABBA accused Abba Mania’s managers of “parasitic and bad-faith conduct” in advertising Abba Mania.

The defendants, according to ABBA, have refused to stop using Abba Mania on social media, YouTube, and the abbamania.com website, or to use “ABBA Tribute” in a way that would not confuse them.

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Handshake Ltd of Manchester, England, and TAL Entertainment Ltd of Bicester, England, are corporate defendants.

Outside of business hours on Friday, neither party responded to calls for comment.

The trademark infringement case was filed amid Abba Mania’s U.S. tour, which bills itself as “The Original Tribute from London’s West End!” and includes a concert in Middletown, New York, roughly a 90-minute drive from Manhattan, in February 2022.

The designated plaintiff, Polar Music International AB, has been in charge of ABBA’s business activities since the group’s inception in Stockholm in 1972. It also demands a range of damages in its complaint.

In small capital letters, Abba Mania’s website states, “Abba Mania is in no way related, affiliated, or endorsed by Polar Music of ABBA.”

ABBA is best known for songs like “Waterloo,” “Dancing Queen,” “Money, Money, Money,” and “The Winner Takes It All,” which have sold an estimated 385 million copies worldwide. It was also one of the first bands to market its music via music videos.

The band recently released “Voyage,” its first new record in 40 years, and is planning a stage spectacle that will feature computerized avatars of its members, who are now in their 70s and dressed in 1970s garb.

Source: CTV News

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