A California surf company that manufactures surfboards and related merchandise recently filed a lawsuit against the singer-songwriter Lady Gaga, accusing her of stealing their logo. Legal documents allege the pop star appropriated a trademark held by Lost International coinciding with the release of her new album, ‘Mayhem.’ This is Lady Gaga’s sixth studio album.
The San Clemente, CA, surf company filed the suit against Lady Gaga on March 25 in federal district court in California. The musical artist, whose legal name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, released her new mega-hit album ‘Mayhem’ on March 7.
In court documents, Lost International alleges Lady Gaga used “substantially similar if not nearly identical” logos and fonts that were trademarked by the company about ten years ago. The surf company was founded in 1985 and says it has been using the Mayhem logo on apparel since 1988, with a trademark secured in 2015.
Lady Gaga’s legal team in turn alleges Lost International attacked the singer’s right to name her new album ‘Mayhem’ and create and sell merchandise including clothing and accessories using the name.
Copyright laws protect logos that have artistic or design elements that are “artistic” creations. The owner of the copyright must show proof they hold the copyright interest through creation, assignment, or license. The law has a standard used to determine if there is copyright infringement; if there is “substantial similarity,” meaning the average person would confuse the two logos, it is illegal.
In court documents, attorneys allege that “Lady Gaga has unilaterally, and without Lost’s permission or knowledge, attempted to misappropriate the ‘Mayhem’ name, trademark, and stylized mark by releasing an album entitled ‘Mayhem,’ launching a tour with that same name, and selling clothing and accessories with that name.”
The lawsuit also includes verbiage accusing Lady Gaga of ignoring demands to stop using ‘Mayhem’ in her new marketing and album promotions.
“Despite a notice from Lost’s counsel, Lady Gaga has failed and refused, and continues to fail and refuse to cease her willful and blatant infringing on the Registered Mark and thus she must immediately be enjoined from this behavior,” the lawsuit alleges.
Lady Gaga’s attorneys denied all wrongdoing immediately and released a statement.
“Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM soared to No. 1 and shattered records, a testament to her unmatched talent and global impact,” Lady Gaga’s attorney Orin Snyder said in a statement. “It’s disappointing — but hardly surprising — that someone is now attempting to capitalize on her success with a baseless lawsuit over the name MAYHEM. This is nothing more than an opportunistic and meritless abuse of the legal system.”
In legal documents, the surf company included images of its logo and Lady Gaga’s logo as evidence.
Attorneys for Lost International argue in legal documents that Lady Gaga violates the company’s trademark protection. The surf company alleges Lady Gaga “is increasing Lost’s damages by, among other things, diluting the Mark, diverting revenue from Lost to Defendants, and depriving Lost of the ability to manage and control its brand.”
“Lady Gaga’s actions are likely to mislead the public into concluding that her goods originate with or are authorized by Lost, which will damage both Lost and the public,” the suit stated. “Lost has no control over the quality of goods sold by Lady Gaga and because of the source of confusion caused by Lady Gaga, Lost has lost control over its valuable goodwill.”
Lost International founder Matt Biolos said, “We’ve been building …Lost Mayhem boards here every day for almost 40 years now. “Surfers, skaters, snowboarders,” Biolos said, “they don’t wanna be associated with so much corporate pop culture. So, if all these little Gaga people are running around wearing a Mayhem shirt, with my name on it in mainstream life, it makes our stuff not as cool, not as renegade.”
Biolos said publicly that the Mayhem logo is critical to their brand.
“We don’t want her money,” he said. “We want her stuff. We want her to not make any merch with our name on it. We’re happy to be a small brand that thrives and cruises in the underground.”
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