Taylor Swift has found herself in legal trouble yet again!
A new lawsuit filed in California federal court on Monday by a Las Vegas showgirl named Maren Wade has shocked the internet. She claims the pop star totally copied her trademark brand Confessions of a Showgirl, and she’s suing for infringement. Why?
Well, the suit claims Tay Tay and UMG Recordings are stealing her thunder with The Life of a Showgirl. Maren says she spent over a decade building up her brand and making it perfect — and with the billionaire making something she deems similar, it’s completely undermined her work. Maren says she started her brand back in 2014 when she used the name Confessions of a Showgirl as a column in Las Vegas Weekly.
Related: Is Taylor Going Back Into Hiding To ‘Stay Away’ From Blake Lively Legal Mess?
From there, the performer says she trademarked it in 2015, and eventually went on to make a tour with live shows, as well as writing and digital media being big elements of the brand. She also says in the filings that The Life of a Showgirl is just way too similar to Confessions of a Showgirl as a whole — the “overall commercial impression” being in overlapping markets and being targeted toward the same consumers. Oof.
The complaint reads:
“Within weeks, the designation was affixed to consumer goods, stamped onto labels, tags, and packaging, and deployed as a source identifier across retail channels — all directed at the same audience Plaintiff had spent years cultivating.”
That’s not all, either. Maren totally slammed Taylor, saying that she and her team knew better. For example, they claimed Taylor went ahead with the album name despite the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office declining her application to register The Life of a Showgirl, noting it was confusingly similar to Maren’s, per the lawsuit. So, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, apparently!
Wade also called out Travis Kelce‘s wife-to-be for having no issue enforcing her own trademarks against others.
Ouch!!
Overall, her main concern is that people will recognize Taylor’s brand first, and begin to think Maren’s copying the pop star. She wants people to know it was allegedly her idea and aesthetic way before Tay’s! She seeks for the 35-year-old’s team to stop using the phrasing The Life of a Showgirl on her merch and services. She also is seeking undisclosed damages for her claims of trademark infringement, false designation, and unfair competition. Taylor now faces the option to buy out Wade’s claim to the name or to fight this in court.
Maren’s lawyer Jaymie Parkinnen said in a statement:
“A solo performer who spent twelve years building a brand shouldn’t have to watch it disappear because someone bigger came along.”
Damn. Some serious stuff! And if you know anything about Swiftie lore, you know this is no joke! Remember when, back in 2020, allegations of Taylor copying a Black-owned small business called The Folklore dropped? This made her team decide to remove “The” from “The Folklore Album” on her merch and change it to just “Folklore Album.” She was allegedly trying to avoid a similar lawsuit at the time.
Ironically, though, up until this point Maren seemed to be a HUGE fan of Taylor. Her bio on TikTok even says:
“The Life of a Showgirl: Baby, That’s TikTok.”
Not to mention the tons of videos she’s released featuring the pop star’s songs from TLOAS.
@marenwade #thelifeofashowgirl #swifties #ts12 #showgirl #elizabethtaylor
@marenwade
@marenwade
@marenwade When you’re a showgirl and a swiftie! #thelifeofashowgirl #ts12 #swifties #expectationvreality #taylornation
What do U think about all this, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via Taylor Swift/YouTube/MEGA/WENN]
