Buena claims victory in Sugababes name battle

Mutya Buena claims to have won the rights to the name Sugababes.

The singer – who quit the group in 2005 and was replaced by Amelle Berrebah – launched action against the trio following the departure of her former bandmate Keisha Buchanan in 2009, leaving them without any original members, and has now claimed to have succeeded in her fight to acquire ownership of the name.

She wrote on her Facebook page: "I won the official name of the Sugababes now!!! I deserve this! I’m over the moon!"

However, while the official EU Trademark website now lists Mutya – who founded the band with Keisha and Siobhan Donaghy in 1998 – as owner of the name Sugababes, she only has the rights to use the name to sell limited amount of products.

The sites states she has acquired the name Sugababes for Class 16 products, which are classified as "Paper, cardboard and goods made from these materials, not included in other classes; namely stationery, paper gift wrap and paper gift wrapping ribbons".

Heidi Range – who joined the band in 2001 – previously insisted the current line-up would have no problem keeping the name Sugababes because their former record company Island owned the rights.

She said: "Our record company owns the name so there are no conversations about who owns the name. I signed with Mutya and Keisha years ago, so we've still got the name."

Heidi and Amelle are now joined in the band by Jade Ewan.