Taylor Swift sued for trademark infringement over Life of a Showgirl

POP MEGASTAR Taylor Swift was sued by a Las Vegas performer on Monday who said Swift’s latest hit album The Life of a Showgirl violates her trademark rights.

Maren Wade said in the complaint that her long-running stage show was called Confessions of a Showgirl and asked the court to block Ms. Swift from creating confusion with her album title.

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

Ms. 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, Ms. Swift’s 12^th album, was released in October and Ms. Wade said in the complaint that she began writing her “Confessions of a Showgirl” column 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 Ms. Swift’s application last year for a federal Life of a Showgirl trademark covering “musical performances and live entertainment services,” citing potential confusion with Ms. Wade’s pre-existing Confessions of a Showgirl trademark.

Ms. Wade said in the complaint that Ms. 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,” Ms. Wade said.

Ms. Wade requested a court order blocking Ms. Swift’s use of her “Showgirl” brand and unspecified monetary damages. — Reuters