In a May 6 opposition filed in California federal court, attorneys for Taylor Swift, TAS Rights Management, UMG Recordings, and Bravado International. They asked a judge to deny Maren Flagg‘s motion for a preliminary injunction.
Flagg performs under the name Maren Wade. She filed the lawsuit in late March. She alleges Swift’s album The Life of a Showgirl infringes upon her trademark. That trademark is the phrase “Confessions of a Showgirl.” Flagg has used it for a newspaper column, podcast, and cabaret since 2015.
In a sharply worded court filing, Swift’s attorneys argued there is virtually no chance consumers would confuse the two brands. “Plaintiff attempts to broadly lump her cabaret show and defendants’ musical album together as ‘entertainment services.’ That comparison is absurd,” the filing states.
Swift’s lawyers 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, and it fails every single step of the preliminary injunction inquiry.”
Swift’s lawyers wrote
The filing argues Flagg’s performances are not comparable to Swift’s album or brand. Swift’s attorneys describe Flagg’s shows as taking place in “small intimate venues.” These include a “55+ active community” and a “55+ golf resort.” They also mention a “90 seat cabaret-style venue.”
Trademark issues
The suit even cites that when Swift applied to register her trademark for the album, the U.S. Patent. Trademark Office initially declined because it found the title too similar to Flagg’s existing trademark. Flagg’s attorney, Jaymie Parkkinen, told Rolling Stone that his client “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,” which he attributed to a conflict with Flagg’s existing mark.
Swift’s team, however, flipped the narrative entirely. The brief argues the album title is protected by the First Amendment. It cites Rogers v. Grimaldi and Lost Int’l, LLC v. Germanotta. The latter involved Lady Gaga being accused of appropriating her Mayhem album title. A surfboard company filed that suit.
The attorneys also turned attention to Flagg’s own social media behavior. Four days after Swift announced her album title in August 2025, Flagg announced a new podcast. This podcast mimicked Swift’s album artwork, logo, title, and taglines. Flagg flooded her Instagram and TikTok with over 40 advertisements. These ads used Swift’s music and intellectual property without permission.
Swift’s legal team warned that “each of these advertisements constitutes actionable infringement, and TASRM will be pursuing appropriate remedies for that intentional, commercial misuse.”
The lawyers also questioned Flagg’s request for immediate relief, given that she filed the lawsuit eight months after Swift announced her album.
A hearing on the injunction request is set for May 27. No trial date has been scheduled, but the increasingly personal tone of the filings suggests this legal battle is far from over.
