LOS ANGELES (CN) - A performer who has used the name "Confessions of a Showgirl" for a column in the Las Vegas Weekly about her job experiences as well as for a live show asked a federal judge Wednesday to issue a preliminary injunction against Taylor Swift's use of "The Life of a Showgirl."
Jaymie Parkkinen, the attorney for Maren Wade, argued at a hearing in downtown Los Angeles that the title of Swift's 12th studio album she released last year is not an expressive use protected by the First Amendment, as Swift's attorneys maintain, but rather a source identifier for not just the songs on the album but a slew of merchandise including candles, hairbrushes, and stuffed toys.
Even though Wade has used her registered trademark for 12 years, Parkkinen said, it has now become associated with Swift whose work, he claims, is confusingly similar to Wade's.
"This is a a reverse confusion injury," the lawyer said, referring to a situation in which a long-established user of a trademark is thought to be the imitator. "It's called erasure."
U.S. District Judge Serena Murillo, a Joe Biden appointee, took the motion under submission without indicating if she was inclined to grant or deny it.
Wade, who sued under her legal name Maren Flagg, said in a complaint filed March 30 she started using the phrase "Confessions of a Showgirl" in 2014 for a column in the Las Vegas Weekly about her life as a performer. She got a trademark for the name in 2015.
"What began as a weekly column became a live show," Wade argues in the lawsuit. "The show became a touring production. Over the course of a decade, 'Confessions of a Showgirl' grew into a brand encompassing performances, writing, and digital media - built by one person, city by city and show by show."
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Wade claims, declined to register Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" trademark because it is confusingly similar to her trademark.
J. Douglas Baldridge, an attorney representing Swift, argued at the hearing Wade's lawsuit overstates the possibility of consumer confusion. If someone were to see Wade's cabaret show in small venues or read her book, which he said appears to be unavailable, they wouldn't think it had anything to do with Swift, he told the judge.
In fact, the attorney said, Wade only "teased" her purported podcast based on her "Confession of a Showgirl" trademark after Swift released her album last year and she sought to associate herself with Swift's work on social media in order to generate interest in her own endeavors.
"She waited eight months to object," Baldridge said, suggesting Wade only brought the lawsuit after she didn't receive the marketing boost she had hoped for by associating her own brand with Swift's work.
"The Live of a Showgirl," according to Swift's website, had the largest sales week for any album in U.S. music history when it was released on Oct. 3, 2025. It was the artist's 15th No. 1 album and broke the record for the most No. 1 albums in the 21st century. It also set the record for the most No. 1 albums by a solo artist.
Source: Courthouse News Service
