A Las Vegas performer is suing Taylor Swift for trademark infringement over her latest album\u2019s \u201cshowgirl\u201d branding.<\/p>\n
Swift’s 12th studio album, \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl<\/a>,\u201d was announced in August<\/a> and debuted in October. The glitzy album art, complete with art deco imagery and glamorous feathered outfits, centered burlesque aesthetics for Swift\u2019s newest era.<\/p>\n In a lawsuit filed Monday, singer and columnist Maren Wade claims Swift’s album and her newspaper column-turned-show, titled \u201cConfessions of a Showgirl,” include similarities. <\/p>\n \u201cBoth share the same structure, the same dominant phrase, and the same overall commercial impression,\u201d says the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. \u201cBoth are used in overlapping markets and are directed at the same consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n The weekly column about Wade\u2019s life in the entertainment industry launched in Las Vegas Weekly in 2014 and has since evolved into a podcast and a live cabaret show. Wade\u2019s \u201cConfessions of a Showgirl\u201d branding has been trademarked since 2015. Her lawsuit claims Swift and her team should have noticed the similarities.<\/p>\n \u201cMaren spent more than a decade building CONFESSIONS OF A SHOWGIRL. She registered it. She earned it,\u201d Wade\u2019s attorney, Jaymie Parkkinen, wrote in a statement. \u201cWhen Taylor Swift\u2019s team applied to register THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL, the Trademark Office refused, finding Swift\u2019s mark confusingly similar.\u201d<\/p>\n Representatives for Swift and UMG declined to comment.<\/p>\n The lawsuit claims the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office notified Swift\u2019s team that \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl\u201d was likely to be confused with an existing trademark but that she \u201ccontinued using it anyway\u201d without contacting Wade.<\/p>\n 00:45<\/p>\n 45 second breakdown of Taylor Swift\u2019s new album<\/p>\n 00:0000:00<\/p>\n Because Swift\u2019s \u201coverwhelming commercial presence\u201d is capable of drowning out Wade\u2019s original branding, the lawsuit says, consumers might begin to assume that Wade\u2019s brand is an imitation of Swift\u2019s newer one.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have great respect for Swift\u2019s talent and success, but trademark law exists to ensure that creators at all levels can protect what they\u2019ve built,\u201d Parkkinen added. \u201cThat\u2019s what this case is about.\u201d<\/p>\n Wade asks the court to permanently prevent Swift and her companies from using \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl\u201d as a brand name on products or services, as well as to hand over to Wade all profits earned from the sale of goods under the \u201cLife of a Showgirl\u201d branding. She also seeks a jury trial and further monetary compensation.<\/p>\n TAS Rights Management, the company managing Swift\u2019s trademarks, and Bravado, UMG\u2019s global merchandise and brand management division, were also named as defendants. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Wade\u2019s lawsuit also pointed to the defendants\u2019 own previous legal actions to protect Swift\u2019s trademarks.<\/p>\n \u201cIndeed, they are not merely familiar with trademark law\u2014they are among its most vigorous enforcers, having filed multiple federal actions to seize goods from vendors selling trademarked merchandise near concert venues,\u201d the complaint says. \u201cThey possess direct knowledge of the harm that trademark infringement inflicts on a brand, having leveraged that very harm in federal court when it served their interests to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n Before she filed the lawsuit, Wade had expressed positive sentiments about Swift\u2019s \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl\u201d on her social media platforms, sharing an Instagram post captioned<\/a> \u201cIn my showgirl era.\u201d Several of her Instagram posts also included hashtags promoting Swift\u2019s album.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople that are like, \u2018Oh, I don\u2019t like Taylor Swift\u2019 \u2014 OK girl, if you\u2019re not fun, just say that,\u201d Wade said in another video, captioned \u201cLet us be excited for #TS12 #TheLifeofAShowgirl\u201d<\/p>\n