Taylor Swift Fights ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Trademark Lawsuit
Taylor Swift‘s legal professionals have come out swinging of their first response to a trademark lawsuit over her record-smashing newest album The Life of a Showgirlaccusing the plaintiff of “attempting to get the attention of Ms. Swift’s fandom for her own gain.”
Swift’s authorized crew on the agency Venable LLP filed authorized papers on Wednesday (May 6) within the lawsuit brought by Maren Wadea Las Vegas-based performer who places on a cabaret present known as “Confessions of a Showgirl.” Wade (born Maren Flagg) alleges The Life of a Showgirl you infringe her mental property, and he or she’s seeking an immediate injunction to bar the pop famous person from promoting album merch whereas the litigation performs out.
Swift’s legal professionals at the moment are opposing that injunction request, which they are saying would price tens of tens of millions of {dollars} in misplaced income if granted. Wednesday’s courtroom submitting, obtained by Billboardargues that Flagg “embraced and sought to associate herself” with The Life of a Showgirl to get a “marketing boost.” They cite greater than 40 posts on Flagg’s Instagram and TikTok pages that characteristic Swift’s music, plus hashtags like #thelifeofashowgirl, #TS12, #taylorswift and #swifties.
“Far from displaying any concern concerning the album after its announcement, Ms. Flagg spent a number of months centering her model on The Life of a Showgirl‘s identify, paintings, music and lyrics to advertise her little-known cabaret present,” reads the filing. “When plaintiff’s makes an attempt to use Ms. Swift’s mental property didn’t garner the specified consideration (probably as a result of, regardless of Ms. Flagg’s finest efforts, customers weren’t confused into believing these two manufacturers had been even remotely linked), she was accused of a meritless lawsuit.”
Swift’s attorneys say Flagg is really the one right here who has dedicated infringement by misusing the star’s mental property, they usually “will be pursuing appropriate remedies for that intentional, commercial misuse.” This echoes the technique Swift’s crew employed when Utah’s Evermore Park filed a trademark lawsuit in 2021 over her album Evermoreand he or she countersued the theme park for enjoying her music with out correct licenses. Both circumstances had been ultimately dropped with no cash exchanged.
Wednesday’s response papers argue that a decide ought to reject Flagg’s injunction movement as a result of The Life of a Showgirl merch is tied to Swift’s First Amendment-protected expression, citing Lady Gaga‘s victory over a similar request to cease gross sales of her Mayhem album merch amid a trademark lawsuit late final yr. Even with out inventive expression protections, Swift’s legal professionals say the movement fails as a result of there is not any likelihood of clients mistaking “Confessions of a Showgirl” for The Life of a Showgirl.
“It is widely known that Ms. Swift’s fanbase is a dedicated and informed set of consumers,” reads the submitting. “Their attention to detail is legendary when it comes to information about Ms. Swift’s albums or merchandise, with fans eagerly detecting ‘easter eggs’ and pouring over Ms. Swift’s works in connection with numerology codes and word searches. There is no chance they would be confused between plaintiff’s cabaret shows and Ms. Swift’s album and related promotional merchandise.”
Swift’s legal professionals additionally spend a while within the courtroom papers attacking the purported similarities between the 2 logos, noting that they’ve totally different dominant phrases, fonts, coloration schemes, spacing and meanings. And they are saying that whereas each marks cowl dwell leisure, it is “absurd” to match the “Confessions of a Showgirl” act to one thing like The Eras Tour: “'[Swift’s] performances are musical concerts at sold-out stadiums with thousands of attendees, not at golf resorts or cabaret-style venues.”
Because of all this, Swift’s legal professionals say they’ll win in the long term at registering a trademark for The Life of a Showgirldespite the fact that the US Patent and Trademark Office initially rejected their software resulting from a probability of confusion with Flagg’s prior mark. They say the method stays ongoing, emphasizing that this prior “nonfinal office action is exactly what it sounds like, not final (and not uncommon).”
Flagg’s legal professionals will now get a likelihood to rebut Swift’s arguments in one other courtroom submitting of their very own. A federal decide is then set to weigh the injunction request at a listening to scheduled for May 27 in Los Angeles.
In a assertion responding to Swift’s opposition submitting on Thursday (May 7), Flagg’s legal professional Jaymie Parkkinen mentioned, “We read it. Defenders assert First Amendment protection for napkins and hairbrushes. We look forward to filing our response next week.”
