Taylor Swift sued for trademark infringement over Life Of A Showgirl

LOS ANGELES – American pop megastar Taylor Swift was sued on March 30 by a Las Vegas performer who said Swift’s latest hit album The Life Of A Showgirl violates her trademark rights.

Maren Wade said in the complaint that marketing for Swift’s album threatened to “drown out” her long-running stage show, Confessions Of A Showgirl, and asked the court to block Swift from creating confusion with her album title.

Spokespeople for Swift and her label Universal Music Group, also a defendant, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wade’s attorney Jaymie Parkkinen said they “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”.

The Life Of A Showgirl, Swift’s 12th album, was released in October 2025 and shattered Spotify streaming records on its way to becoming the biggest-selling album of 2025.

Wade said in the complaint that she began writing her column, Confessions Of A Showgirl, for Las Vegas Weekly in 2014.

She said she has since toured a stage show with the same name featuring “candid and often humorous accounts of the challenges and absurdities of a career in the entertainment industry, from getting stuck inside a giant birthday cake to impersonating a Madonna impersonator”.

The US Patent and Trademark Office rejected Swift’s application in 2025 for a federal Life Of A Showgirl trademark covering “musical performances and live entertainment services”, citing potential confusion with Wade’s pre-existing Confessions Of A Showgirl trademark.

Wade said in the complaint that Swift’s continued use of the Life Of A Showgirl name “drowns out” her trademark “until consumers begin to assume that the original is the imitation”.

“What Plaintiff had built over 12 years, Defendants threatened to swallow in weeks,” Wade said.

She requested a court order blocking Swift’s use of her Showgirl brand and unspecified monetary damages. REUTERS