A lawsuit says Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” stole the highlight from the lifetime of an actual one.
Maren Wade says within the trademark infringement lawsuit filed Monday in federal court docket in California that the glittery branding of Swift’s 2025 album comes too near the aesthetic of her personal “Confessions of a Showgirl.” That was the identify of a column she wrote on backstage Sin City life within the Las Vegas Weekly beginning in 2014, which she was a reside present that she took on a nationwide tour.
“Both share the same structure, the same dominant phrase, and the same overall commercial impression,” the lawsuit says. “Both are used in overlapping markets and are directed at the same consumers.”
Wade is described as a “singer, songwriter, comedian, and writer” within the lawsuit filed underneath her authorized identify, Maren Flagg, and her “Showgirl” model encompasses performances, writing and digital media.
“The Life of a Showgirl,” the stadium-packing celebrity’s twelfth studio album, launched in October, offered 4 million copies in its first week. Its cowl options her in Las Vegas cabaret garb, submerged in water together with her present favourite colour scheme of orange and mint inexperienced. On Tuesday, the morning after the lawsuit was filed, Swift dropped the most recent video for the album for the album’s observe “Elizabeth Taylor,” that includes archival footage of the Hollywood luminary who died in 2011.
Wade appeared to embrace Swift’s use of the showgirl picture initially, sharing Instagram posts that used Swift’s music, hashtags associated to the album, and the mint inexperienced colour scheme. But Wade’s social media presence has gone silent in current months.
Also named as defendants within the lawsuit are the corporate that manages Swift’s logos, her file label and its merchandising arm.
The lawsuit says the album, its promotion and the merchandise surrounding it brought about “textbook reverse confusion: a junior user’s overwhelming commercial presence drowns out the senior user’s mark, until consumers begin to assume that the original is the imitation. What Plaintiff had built over twelve years, Defendants threatened to swallow in weeks.”
A consultant for Swift declined touch upon the lawsuit.
Wade and her lawyer say that the existence and trademark of “Confessions of a Showgirl” wouldn’t have escaped the discover of Swift’s staff.
The lawsuit says the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office declined to grant a trademark registration to “Life of a Showgirl” over potential confusion with the prevailing trademark.
“Defendants were therefore placed on actual notice that their chosen designation was likely to be confused with a mark that already belonged to someone,” the lawsuit says. “They continued using it anyway.”
A letter issued by the workplace in early March says the applying was suspended as a result of potential confusion with one other pending trademark filed earlier, for “Showgirl,” by a 3rd celebration and pertaining to fragrance. It additionally cited a “Likelihood of Confusion Refusal” primarily based on the prevailing “Confessions” trademark.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction completely barring Swift and her corporations from utilizing the “Life of a Showgirl” identify and imagery, and financial damages to be decided at trial, together with earnings attributable to using the model.
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