DHAKA: Country-pop diva Taylor Swift’s fetish for the number 13 is being tested by a California clothing company in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed Tuesday in a greater Los Angeles court.

Blue Sphere Inc. said it had been using Lucky 13 as a registered trademark for its line of 1950s-themed rock ‘n’ roll clothes and accessories for two decades before the phrase appeared in 2012 on official Taylor Swift merchandise.

‘While Swift’s merchandising and licensing team obsessively focuses on the Swift brand, it ignores the intellectual property rights of others,’ the company alleged in a 28-page complaint filed at the US District Court in Orange County.

Swift, 24, has long claimed 13 as her lucky number – drawing it on the back of her hand before concerts, folding it into her @taylorswift13 handle on Twitter, even painting it on the fuselage of her private Falcon jet, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1331 HRS, MAY 21, 2014