Swedish pop supergroup ABBA filed a lawsuit on Friday in order to stop a British cover band known as Abba Mania from using that name.
In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, lawyers for ABBA accused Abba Mania's managers of bad faith and parasitic conduct by trading off ABBA's goodwill and cachet in promoting Abba Mania.
Neither responded on Friday to requests for comment outside business hours.
ABBA's trademark infringement lawsuit comes amid a U.S. tour for Abba Mania, which calls itself The Original Tribute from London's West End! It includes a Feb. 2022 date in Middletown, New York, about a 90 minute drive from Manhattan.
Polar Music International AB, the named plaintiff, has handled ABBA business affairs since the group's founding in Stockholm in 1972. Its lawsuit seeks various types of damages.
Abba Mania is not associated, affiliated, or endorsed in small capital letters by Polar Music or ABBA, according to Abba Mania's website.
ABBA has sold an estimated 385 million records and is known for such songs as Waterloo, Dancing Queen, Money, Money, Money and The Winner Takes It All. One of the first acts to use music videos was to promote its music.
The group released its first new album in 40 years, Voyage, last month and is planning a stage show featuring digital avatars of its members, who are now in their 70 s, replicating their 1970 s look.