The Las Vegas performer who sued Taylor Swift for trademark infringement last week is asking a federal judge to drop the curtain on any drink tumblers, brushes, or other merchandise bearing Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl album title while the case proceeds.
Maren Flagg, the working performer who parlayed her 2014 “Confessions of a Showgirl” column in Las Vegas Weekly into a live show, a touring production, a book, a podcast, and a federally registered trademark, filed her lawsuit against Swift on March 30. In a motion for a preliminary injunction filed Tuesday, Flagg asked the court to bar Swift from selling goods under the name “The Life of a Showgirl,” arguing the products are leading consumers astray and crowding her out.
Flagg says the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office previously “refused” Swift’s application to register “The Life of a Showgirl,” finding it “confusingly similar” to Flagg’s “Confessions of a Showgirl” mark. But Swift nonetheless proceeded to sell merchandise without modifying the rejected name, she argues.
“The confusion the USPTO predicted has materialized,” Flagg’s new filing says, claiming that eight of 10 Google searches for her “exact registered mark now redirect” to Swift’s album title. She says the same search on YouTube returns nine consecutive hits for Swift before any results for Flagg, even though Flagg is the senior trademark holder. “This is textbook reverse confusion where a junior user’s commercial dominance systematically displaces the senior user’s mark in the mind of the public until consumers come to believe the originator is the imitator,” the new filing states.
“’Confessions of a Showgirl’ is not one mark among many for plaintiff. It is the only one she has,” the new filing obtained by Rolling Stone states. “[Flagg] has built her professional identity under it for more than a decade, and she has no portfolio of alternative brands, no corporate backing, and no global marketing operation to compete for consumer attention. Defendants have all of these. That asymmetry is directly relevant to the equities, and it tips in plaintiff’s favor.”
Flagg says the overwhelming success of Swift’s album and the merch machine it spawned quickly overpowered her. “Within weeks, the name appeared on drink tumblers, candles, hairbrushes, and garment tags. Defendants built a dedicated retail storefront around it, launched collaborations with numerous national brands, and filed a trademark application across fourteen international classes, covering everything from disposable napkins to ponchos. They never contacted plaintiff. They never sought her consent.”
A representative for Swift did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment on Tuesday. A hearing on the motion for the injunction is set for May 27 in federal court in Los Angeles.
“Maren spent more than a decade building ‘Confessions of a Showgirl.’ She registered it. She earned it. When Taylor Swift’s team applied to register ‘The Life of a Showgirl,’ the Trademark Office refused, finding Swift’s mark confusingly similar,” Flagg’s lawyer Jaymie Parkkinen tells Rolling Stone. “We 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. That’s what this case is about.”
Flagg, who performs under the name Maren Wade, initially appeared enthusiastic about The Life of a Showgirl. Her Instagram page features posts set to Swift’s music and hashtags such as #LifeOfAShowgirl and #TS12. She hasn’t posted since October.
“If defendants’ use [of “The Life of a Showgirl” mark] continues unchecked, the harm is not merely economic—it is the progressive erasure of plaintiff’s ability to be recognized as the source of her own brand,” the new motion for the injunction states. “That harm deepens with each day the commercial program continues and becomes increasingly harder to reverse.”
