{"id":557163,"date":"2026-04-01T00:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557163\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T00:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:21:09","slug":"taylor-swift-sued-over-life-of-a-showgirl-trademark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557163\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift sued over ‘Life of a Showgirl’ trademark"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 A lawsuit says Taylor Swift\u2019s \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl\u201d<\/a> stole the spotlight from the life of a real one. <\/p>\n

Maren Wade says in the trademark infringement lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in California that the glittery branding of Swift\u2019s 2025 album comes too close to the aesthetic of her own \u201cConfessions of a Showgirl.\u201d<\/a> That was the name of a column she wrote on backstage Sin City life in the Las Vegas Weekly starting in 2014, which she turned into a live show that she took on a national tour. <\/p>\n

\u201cBoth share the same structure, the same dominant phrase, and the same overall commercial impression,\u201d the lawsuit says. \u201cBoth are used in overlapping markets and are directed at the same consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade is described as a \u201csinger, songwriter, comedian, and writer\u201d in the lawsuit filed under her legal name, Maren Flagg, and her \u201cShowgirl\u201d brand encompasses performances, writing and digital media. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Life of a Showgirl,\u201d<\/a> the stadium-packing superstar\u2019s 12th studio album, released in October, sold 4 million copies in its first week<\/a>. Its cover features her in Las Vegas cabaret garb, submerged in water with her current favorite color scheme of orange and mint green. On Tuesday, the morning after the lawsuit was filed, Swift dropped the newest video for the album for the album\u2019s track \u201cElizabeth Taylor,\u201d<\/a> featuring archival footage of the Hollywood luminary who died in 2011. <\/p>\n

Wade appeared to embrace Swift\u2019s use of the showgirl image initially, sharing Instagram posts that used Swift\u2019s music, hashtags related to the album, and the mint green color scheme. But Wade\u2019s social media presence has gone silent in recent months. <\/p>\n

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are the company that manages Swift\u2019s trademarks, her record label and its merchandising arm. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit says the album, its promotion and the products surrounding it caused \u201ctextbook reverse confusion: a junior user\u2019s overwhelming commercial presence drowns out the senior user\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

A representative for Swift declined comment on the lawsuit. <\/p>\n

Wade and her attorney say that the existence and trademark of \u201cConfessions of a Showgirl\u201d would not have escaped the notice of Swift\u2019s team. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit says the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office declined to grant a trademark registration to \u201cLife of a Showgirl\u201d over potential confusion with the existing trademark. <\/p>\n

\u201cDefendants were therefore placed on actual notice that their chosen designation was likely to be confused with a mark that already belonged to someone,\u201d the lawsuit says. \u201cThey continued using it anyway.\u201d <\/p>\n

A letter issued by the office in early March says the application was suspended due to potential confusion with another pending trademark filed earlier, for \u201cShowgirl,\u201d by a third party and pertaining to perfume. It also cited a \u201cLikelihood of Confusion Refusal\u201d based on the existing \u201cConfessions\u201d trademark.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit seeks an injunction permanently barring Swift and her companies from using the \u201cLife of a Showgirl\u201d name and imagery, and monetary damages to be determined at trial, including profits attributable to the use of the brand. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 A lawsuit says Taylor Swift\u2019s \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl\u201d stole the spotlight from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[28,2356,236,2302,88,793,2114,3130,2221,247340,246543,1058,1060,4915,795],"class_list":{"0":"post-557163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-courts","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-las-vegas","15":"tag-lawsuits","16":"tag-legal-proceedings","17":"tag-maren-flagg","18":"tag-maren-wade","19":"tag-nevada","20":"tag-nv-state-wire","21":"tag-taylor-swift","22":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}