Lady Gaga’s album ‘Mayhem’, the product of a new and further evolution of her career, was released on 7 March, accompanied by the media hype that has always characterised the famous artist. The album, which is a mix of different genres and features illustrious collaborations, including one with Bruno Mars, immediately dominated the worldwide charts on Spotify.

Everything seemed to be going well until, on 25 March, Lost International LLC filed a complaint with the District Court of California for ‘wilful and unauthorised appropriation’ by Lady Gaga of the trademark ‘Mayhem’, thus suing the pop star for infringement of its brand.

The plaintiff Lost International LLC, is the owner of the U.S. word mark ‘Mayhem’ filed on 30 January 2015 for certain Class 25 clothing goods. The owner claims to have been using the mark since 1988  for surfboards created by Matt ‘Mayhem’ Biolos, the founder of Lost Surfboards and a surf culture icon. The logo is prominently displayed on the surfboards used during the World Surf League and, in addition to marking the boards of surfing legends such as Chris Ward, Griffin Colapinto and Caroline Mark, is also used for merchandising products, including items of clothing.

The meaning of the term ‘Mayhem’ corresponds to chaos, confusion, creative disorder, which can be considered concepts that typically characterise the artistic figure of Gaga. The name, however, is by no means unknown in the music industry, where there is already a Norwegian black metal band called Mayhem.

The comparison made by Lost International’s lawyers is detailed and to the point, underlining how even the graphics used to distinguish the album, tour and merchandising are similar, if not almost identical, to those of their client. This leads to a possible likelihood of confusion for consumers, who are led to associate the signs and think there might be a connection between the singer and the surfing company, as showed below:

According to the plaintiff’s lawyers, Lady Gaga’s use of the sign ‘Mayhem’ is likely to cause a substantial likelihood of confusion among consumers and also damage the reputation of the earlier mark. The figure for damages claimed by Lost International in the Californian court is apparently no less than USD 100 million. Moreover, before filing suit, Lost International also stated that Lady Gaga used the trademark despite having been made aware of the similarities between the signs, leaving the owner no alternative but to file a lawsuit.

The response from the singer’s team was quick to come, and Orin Snyder, the pop star’s lawyer, argued that Lady Gaga never intended to exploit or damage a well-known surf brand, clarifying to People magazine that ‘Lady Gaga’s Mayhem rose to number one and broke records, a testament to her unparalleled talent and global impact. It is disappointing, but not surprising, that someone is now trying to capitalise on her success with an unfounded lawsuit regarding the Mayhem name. The line of defence adopted by counsel is to argue that the term ‘Mayhem’ is too generic to be subject to exclusivity and that the alleged visual similarity between the signs is not in itself sufficient to constitute an infringement of Lost International’s rights.

Clearly, when comparing the two marks, they are unquestionably similar, both phonetically and conceptually and above all visually, as they are also extremely similar in the graphic characterisation and font used. Moreover, Lady Gaga did not use the sign exclusively to distinguish her album but to characterise her entire world tour and, consequently, the related merchandising line, possibly encroaching on the field dear to the owner of the earlier sign.

Lady Gaga is no stranger to controversy of this kind, as back in 2013 she was accused by the French artist Orlan of having copied some artwork for the cover and video clip of the album/single ‘Born This Way’. In that case, Orlan’s claims were rejected and the latter was ordered to compensate Gaga for legal costs. Who knows what will become of the ‘Mayhem’ – in name and in fact – unleashed by the famous pop star, and whether the latter will be forced to reckon with the wave of Lost International, a legal storm to be surfed!