A professional Vegas showgirl has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Taylor Swift over her most recent album, The Life of a Showgirl.
The lawsuit, obtained by Rolling Stone, was filed by Maren Flagg. Flagg performs as Maren Wade and has spent the last decade building a career around the branding, “Confessions of a Showgirl.” She first started writing a column for the Las Vegas Weekly under that banner in 2014, then turned her musings on showbiz life into a live show and touring production.
Wade trademarked “Confessions of a Showgirl” in 2015, and claims that the “similarity” between her mark and Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl is “immediate.” Her lawsuit reads: “Both share the same structure, the same dominant phrase, and the same overall commercial impression. Both are used in overlapping markets and are directed at the same consumers.”
The lawsuit points out that Swift’s efforts to trademark “The Life of a Showgirl” have already been stymied by perceived similarities with her own mark. Per the suit, Swift’s team filed a trademark application for “The Life of a Showgirl” last August, but in November the U.S. Patent and Trademark office issued a partial refusal “because of a likelihood of confusion” with a different trademark: Wade’s “Confessions of a Showgirl.”
Despite this refusal, the lawsuit claims Swift and her team never obtained Wade’s “consent or authorization” to use The Life of a Showgirl or any similar mark on their numerous branding and merch endeavors. And, it adds, Swift has “continued to use The Life of a Showgirl in commerce as a trademark in connection with goods offered to the public.”
(The trademark office suspended Swift’s application earlier this month, putting proceedings on hold. A final decision hasn’t been made been made yet, though the suspension letter did indicate that the refusal “will be made final” once the suspension is lifted “unless a new issue arises.”)
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While Wade has filed this lawsuit now, a quick glance at her social media pages suggests there was a brief period where she was very excited for The Life of a Showgirl. Her Instagram page is filled with posts using Swift’s music and hashtags like #LifeOfAShowgirl and #TS12. The cover art for a Confessions of a Showgirl podcast Wade teased last summer also made use of a mint green color scheme reminiscent of Swift’s album art. (Wade has been silent on social media since last October.)
But in her lawsuit, Wade claims that her own mark has essentially been swamped by Swift’s Showgirl era. “Each additional sale compounds the confusion in the marketplace and further erodes [Wade’s] ability to be recognized as the soul source of her Confessions of a Showgirl brand,” the lawsuit reads.
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Jaymie Parkkinen, a lawyer for Wade, tells Rolling Stone, “Maren spent more than a decade building Confessions of a Showgirl. She registered it. She earned it. When Taylor Swift’s team applied to register The Life of a Showgirl, the Trademark Office refused, finding Swift’s mark confusingly similar. We have great respect for Swift’s talent and success, but trademark law exists to ensure that creators at all levels can protect what they’ve built. That’s what this case is about.”
A representative for Swift did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.