Taylor Swift‘s attorneys have slapped back at a lawsuit filed by a former Las Vegas showgirl who claims that the pop superstar’s “The Life of a Showgirl” album title infringes on her trademark for the phrase “Confessions of a Showgirl.” The lawyers call the argument that there could be confusion between the services provided by the two women “absurd.”

Maren Flagg, who performs as Maren Wade, filed the lawsuit in United States District Court in California in late March. She trademarked “Confessions of a Showgirl” in 2015 and has used it for a newspaper column, podcast and cabaret performances. Her lawsuit claimed that the two titles “share the same structure, the same dominant phrase, and the same overall commercial impression. Both are used in overlapping markets and are directed at the same consumers.” 

Flagg asked for a preliminary injunction that would immediately bar Swift from further use of the “Life of a Showgirl” brand. A brief filed Wednesday by Swift’s attorneys and reviewed by Variety begins: “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,” Swift’s lawyers continue. They argue there is little chance of confusion between Swift’s top-grossing stadium tour and cabaret appearances in which the defendant “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. Her website lists no upcoming performances.”

Moreover, Swift’s team asks the judge to consider why Flagg is asking for immediate relief on the basis of irreparable harm eight months after the album was first announced — and argues that Flagg spent several of those months trying to associate herself with “The Life of a Showgirl” in her messaging.

“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,” the brief says. “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.”

Swift’s attorneys suggest that they may be going after Flagg for her own use of Swift’s music and imagery.

“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,” reads the brief. “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,” the brief argues, “and TASRM [TAS Rights Management] will be pursuing appropriate remedies for that…

“In one post,” the filing goes on to say, “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.”

Flagg’s lawsuit said the ongoing sales of Swift’s album caused serious harm to her business efforts. “Each additional sale compounds the confusion in the marketplace and further erodes [Wade’s] ability to be recognized as the soul source of her Confessions of a Showgirl brand.” Among the suit’s contention is that her own site and posts have been pushed down in search results by Swift’s ubiquitous branding.

In an interview with Rolling Stone following the initial filing of the lawsuit, Jaymie Parkkinen, an attorney for Flagg, said 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.

The brief from Swift’s lawyers argues that, regardless of other factors, the pop star’s album title is protected by the First Amendment. Her lawyers cite the cases of Rogers v. Grimaldi and Lost Int’l, LLC v. Germanotta, the latter being a suit in which Lady Gaga was accused to appropriating her “Mayhem” album title and logo by a surfboard company. Swift’s team argues based on these cases 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.” Songs and album titles are the core type of expressive First Amendment work that Rogers protects.”

The attorneys also argue that works with similar titles since Flagg obtained her trademark have come and gone without issue, including “Confessions of a Goddess,” “Confessions of a Vegas Showgirl,” “Portrait of a Showgirl” and “The Last Showgirl.”

The brief was filed Wednesday by Max N. Wellman on behalf of himself and fellow attorneys J. Douglas Baldridge and Katherine Wright Morrone. They are representing Swift as well as her co-defendants TAS Rights Management, UMG Recordings and Bravado International Group Merchandising Services.

No trial date has been set.