Taylor Swift is pushing back against the lawsuit over her album The Life of a Showgirl!
As we previously reported, Maren Flagg sued the pop star, UMG Recordings, and Bravado International Group Merchandising Services Inc in March for copyright infringement. She claims she built her own brand, Confessions of a Showgirl, in Las Vegas over the past 12 years, and now fears that because Taylor is such a global icon, anyone who stumbles across her stuff will think she copied the singer. Maren also alleges she trademarked Confessions of a Showgirl in 2015, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office declined the Evermore artist’s application to register The Life of a Showgirl because it was too similar to hers. However, Tay moved forward with the merchandising anyway.
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So, Maren — who goes by Maren Wade when she performs — is asking to stop using The Life of a Showgirl on Taylor’s merch and services. She is also demanding undisclosed damages for her claims of trademark infringement, false designation, and unfair competition. Now, Taylor is firing back at Maren!
According to Variety, her attorneys slammed the Vegas performer in a brief on Wednesday, calling the lawsuit “absurd.” They wrote:
“This motion, just like Maren Flagg’s lawsuit, should never have been filed. It is simply Ms. Flagg’s latest attempt to use Taylor Swift’s name and intellectual property to prop up her brand… Plaintiff attempts to broadly lump her cabaret show and defendants’ musical album together as ‘entertainment services.’ That comparison is absurd.”
The lawyers argue there is a slim chance of anyone confusing Taylor’s stadium tour with Maren’s cabaret appearances, as Maren “performs, if at all, in small intimate venues, such as a: ’55+ active community,’ ’55+ golf resort’; ‘RV & Golf Resort’; ’90 seat cabaret-style venue’ that offers dinner; hotel; and private supper club.” They added:
“Her website lists no upcoming performances.”
Taylor’s team also accuses Maren of spending several months associating herself with The Life of a Showgirl before suing her eight months after the album’s announcement. The brief claims:
“Since the album announcement, plaintiff has reframed her brand around the album, flooding her social media accounts with posts attempting to align herself with Ms. Swift and the album. Prior to the album announcement, plaintiff had never used ‘the life of a showgirl’ in her social media promotion. Following the announcement, plaintiff used the phrase or posted generally about Ms. Swift or the album over 40 times on her branded Instagram and TikTok accounts.”
Her attorneys aren’t wrong! Take a look (below):
Because of all that, along with Maren launching a podcast allegedly “mimicking” The Life of a Showgirl aesthetic, Taylor’s attorneys hinted they may go after her for using the musician’s music and imagery! Whoa!
“Far from showing any concern about the album after its announcement, Ms. Flagg spent several months centering her brand on ‘The Life of a Showgirl’s’ name, artwork, music, and lyrics to promote her little-known cabaret show. In fact, a mere four days after Ms. Swift announced her album title and artwork in August 2025, Ms. Flagg announced a brand-new podcast mimicking Ms. Swift’s Album artwork, logo, title, and taglines. Then, plaintiff flooded her Instagram and TikTok pages with 40+ advertisements for her brand using Ms. Swift’s music, trademarks, and other intellectual property without permission. Each of these advertisements constitutes actionable infringement, and TASRM [TAS Rights Management] will be pursuing appropriate remedies for that…”
The brief added:
“In one post, plaintiff used an album cover logo, audio from the album title track, hashtags including #thelifeofashowgirl; #swifties; #ts12; and #taylornation, and discussed an official album release event. In addition to attempting to confuse consumers, plaintiff’s commercial use of Ms. Swift’s art constitutes clear infringement under federal law.”
And her legal team is pulling out all the stops to fight back on this lawsuit! Additionally, they insist that no matter what, Taylor’s album title is protected by the First Amendment! The attorneys mention Rogers v. Grimaldi and Lost Int’l, LLC v. Germanotta, which involved a surfboard company accusing Lady GaGa of appropriating the Mayhem album title and logo.
Based on these cases, they argue that “if a work is expressive, a plaintiff cannot establish infringement without showing the title (1) is either not artistically relevant to the underlying work; or (2) explicitly misleads as to the source or content of the work. This is because titles of expressive works ‘implicate the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech’ and ‘consumers are less likely to mistake the use of someone else’s mark in an expressive work for a sign of association, authorship, or endorsement.” Therefore, they say songs and albums titles are “the core type of expressive First Amendment work that Rogers protects.”
Furthermore, the lawyers note that works with similar titles have been released since Maren obtained her trademark, including Confessions of a Goddess, Confessions of a Vegas Showgirl, Portrait of a Showgirl, and The Last Showgirl, and she had no issues with any of those.
Despite Taylor’s response and threat of legal action, Maren is not backing down! Her attorney, Jaymie Parkkinen, told Billboard that she will move forward with the suit:
“We read it. Defendants assert First Amendment protection for napkins and hairbrushes. We look forward to filing our response next week.”
Damn!
Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments (below)!
[Image via MEGA/WENN, Taylor Swift/YouTube]