Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, has landed in legal trouble. According to media reports, on Monday, a showgirl and columnist, Maren Wade, filed a lawsuit against Swift and UMG Recordings for using “Showgirl” in the album title. Wade, who is from Vegas and reportedly runs a column-turned-show titled Confessions of a Showgirl, claimed that the title of Swift’s album violates her trademark rights.

Pop culture podcaster Perez Hilton discussed the lawsuit in his March 30 blog post. The podcaster wrote:

“Taylor Swift has found herself in legal trouble yet again!”

According to Hilton, the complaint said that Wade spent over a decade building her brand name. The plaintiff claimed that she began writing for Las Vegas Weekly in 2014 under her column Confessions of a Showgirl. Wade mentioned in the complaint that she trademarked the name in 2015, which eventually turned into live shows.

Wade said that Taylor Swift’s album name is similar to her brand. The plaintiff argued that, being in overlapping markets, the album’s title is creating the impression that she copied the Grammy winner. Maren Wade, in her complaint, sought to have the singer stop using the album’s title on merchandise and services. Perez Hilton summarized the situation as:

“Overall, her main concern is that people will recognize Taylor’s brand first, and begin to think Maren’s copying the pop star. She wants people to know it was allegedly her idea and aesthetic way before Tay’s!… Taylor now faces the option to buy out Wade’s claim to the name or to fight this in court.”

Elsewhere in his blog, Perez Hilton mentioned that back in 2020, Taylor Swift faced similar allegations. Following the release of her Folklore Album, a Black-owned business, ‘The Folklore,’ accused the singer of copying their name. Swift’s team had to change the name on merch from The Folklore Album to Folklore Album.

Taylor Swift’s team was allegedly notified by the USPTO of a similar trademark during album registration

According to the document shared by Reuters, Maren Wade noted in the complaint that she had performed Confessions of a Showgirl at established venues in multiple cities. She claimed that she also appeared on TV under the same name. The complaint further alleged that Taylor Swift’s team was even warned by the United States Patent and Trademark Office while registering the album title.

“When Defendants applied to register THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL, the Office refused on the ground that Defendants’ designation is confusingly similar to Plaintiff’s established mark. Defendants were therefore placed on actual notice that their chosen designation was likely to be confused with a mark that already belonged to someone else. They continued using it anyway,” the complaint read.

Further in the complaint, Wade said that, as a performer, she “respects Taylor Swift’s right to creative expression,” but alleged that what the singer did was a trademark infringement

The plaintiff has demanded that Taylor Swift stop using her album name on merchandise and also sought monetary damages.

The Life of a Showgirl was released in October last year, days after she announced her engagement to Travis Kelce. The project topped multiple album charts and became the fastest-selling album in the US.