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A professional Vegas showgirl has received criticism for her latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Taylor Swift.
The lawsuit, which is available to ROLLING STONE, was filed by Maren Flagg. Flagg stars as Maren Wade and has spent the past decade building a career around the Confessions of a Showgirl brand. In 2014, she began writing a column for Las Vegas Weekly under that name before turning her reflections on showbiz life into a live show and touring production.
Wade trademarked “Confessions of a Showgirl” in 2015 and claims the “similarity” between her brand and Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” is “obvious.” The lawsuit states: “Both share the same structure, the same dominant term and the same overall commercial impression. Both are used in overlapping markets and are aimed at the same consumers.”
Swift’s registration rejected
The lawsuit points out that Swift’s attempts to trademark “The Life of a Showgirl” have already failed because of its perceived similarity to Wade’s trademark. According to the lawsuit, Swift’s team filed an application to trademark “The Life of a Showgirl” last August, but in November the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a partial denial because of “likelihood of confusion” with another trademark: Wade’s “Confessions of a Showgirl.”
Despite this denial, Swift and her team never sought Wade’s “consent or approval” to use “The Life of a Showgirl” or a similar title in their numerous branding and merchandising activities, according to the lawsuit. And Swift, it goes on to say, 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 the process on hold for now. A final decision is pending, although the suspension letter indicated that the rejection “will become final” once the suspension is lifted – “unless a new issue is raised.”)
Brief enthusiasm, now complaint
Although Wade has now filed the lawsuit, a cursory glance at her social media pages suggests that there was a brief period when she was absolutely enthralled by The Life of a Showgirl. Her Instagram is full of posts using Swift’s music and hashtags like #LifeOfAShowgirl and #TS12. The cover art for a “Confessions of a Showgirl” podcast that Wade announced last summer also used a mint green color scheme reminiscent of Swift’s album artwork. (Wade has been silent on social media since October of last year.)
But in her lawsuit, Wade argues that her own brand was simply overwhelmed by Swift’s “Showgirl” era. “Every additional sale increases and undermines confusion in the market [Wades] “Ability to be perceived as the sole source of her ‘Confessions of a Showgirl’ brand,” the lawsuit states.
Jaymie Parkkinen, Wade’s attorney, tells ROLLING STONE: “Maren spent more than a decade building ‘Confessions of a Showgirl.’ that creatives at all levels can protect what they have built. That’s what this case is about.”
A spokesperson for Swift did not immediately respond to ROLLING STONE’s request for comment.
