Maren Wade alleges the megastar’s record-breaking 2025 album threatens to “drown out” her long-running ‘Confessions of a Showgirl’ stage show, after the USPTO already rejected Swift’s trademark application.
LAS VEGAS — Taylor Swift is facing a trademark infringement lawsuit from a Las Vegas entertainer who claims the pop superstar’s latest blockbuster album, The Life of a Showgirl, illegally conflicts with a stage show she has built over twelve years.
Maren Wade, a performer and writer, filed the complaint on Monday, arguing that marketing for Swift’s 12th album has threatened to “drown out” her own long-running production, Confessions of a Showgirl. Wade is asking the court to block Swift from using the title in a way that creates confusion among audiences.
The lawsuit notes that the US Patent and Trademark Office had already rejected Swift’s application for a federal trademark on Life of a Showgirl — specifically covering “musical performances and live entertainment services” — citing potential confusion with Wade’s pre-existing trademark.
Despite that ruling, Swift released The Life of a Showgirl in October. The album went on to shatter Spotify streaming records and became the best-selling album of 2025.
According to the complaint, Wade began writing her Confessions of a Showgirl column for Las Vegas Weekly in 2014. She later expanded it into a touring stage show described as 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.”
“What Plaintiff had built over twelve years, Defendants threatened to swallow in weeks,” Wade said in the filing. She added that Swift’s continued use of the similar name “drowns out” her trademark “until consumers begin to assume that the original is the imitation.”
Wade is requesting a court order blocking Swift’s use of the “Showgirl” brand for live entertainment services, along with unspecified monetary damages.
Spokespeople for Swift and her label, Universal Music Group — also named as a defendant — did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Wade’s attorney, Jaymie Parkkinen, said in a statement: “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.”
