Part 1: Lost Surfboards v. Lady Gaga

Lost International, LLC (aka Lost Surfboards) filed suit against Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (aka Lady Gaga) on March 25, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that Lady Gaga’s sale of certain merchandise associated with her recently release album entitled “Mayhem,” and announcement of a world tour under the same name infringes on the MAYHEM® trademark owned by Lost Surfboards and used on clothings old by Lost Surfboards. Lost Surfboards filed its Complaint on March 25, but subsequently amended the Complaint on April 14, reducing the number of claims filed against Lady Gaga.

The Parties

Lost Surfboards is a well-known, well-established legacy brand in the surf industry. Lost Surfboards, founded in 1985 by Matt “Mayhem” Biolos and a group of his school friends, has risen to prominence over the last 40 years through the sale of surfboards, clothing, and headwear. Most, if not all, of Lost Surfboards’ surfboards and clothing items display the MAYHEM® trademark.

Lady Gaga likely does not require an introduction, but for the uninformed, Lady Gaga is one of the most iconic pop music performers of her generation and has been since coming onto the scene around 2008/2009.

The Trademark

Before getting into the details of the lawsuit, because Lost Surfboards’ lawsuit turns on the alleged infringement of the MAYHEM® trademark, it bears discussing the details of the MAYHEM® mark. The mark at issue is one of Lost’s “Mayhem” trademarks—the company, through multiple entities, actually owns multiple “Mayhem” trademarks. The first “Mayhem” trademark owned by Lost Surfboards was registered in August 2013 for International Class 028, and is used for and associated with the sale of Lost Surfboards’ surfboards. The second “Mayhem” trademark owned by Lost Surfboards was registered in August 2015 for International Class 025, and is used for and associated with the sale of Lost Surfboards’ clothing. This second “Mayhem” trademark is the MAYHEM® trademark at issue in this lawsuit. Note that registration of this MAYHEM® mark for the sale of clothing is a central issue to the lawsuit, as Lost Surfboards makes no allegations that Lady Gaga is infringing on its “Mayhem” trademark associated with the sale of surfboards.

Another key aspect of the MAYHEM® mark is that it is a word mark. There are different types of trademarks (e.g., word mark, design mark, sound mark, etc.), with each protecting different things. A registered word mark protects the wording of the mark regardless of its style. Meanwhile, a design mark only protects that specific design, not necessarily the words in the design. In other words, although Lost Surfboards’ allegations discuss the stylized form of the MAYHEM® mark, Lost Surfboards’ trademark rights in MAYHEM® are broader than if it were simply a design mark. Accordingly, although the stylized “Mayhem” logo being used by Lady Gaga is one of the key issues highlighted by Lost Surfboards’ Complaint, it could be determined that any stylized form of “Mayhem” on clothing infringes on the MAYHEM® mark, not just the stylized form used on Lady Gaga’s merchandise.

Lost typically uses the MAYHEM® mark in the below stylized form:

The Lawsuit

Lost Surfboards’ Complaint, filed on March 25, 2025, raised nine separate claims against Lady Gaga, but all stemmed from the same basic allegations: that Lady Gaga is infringing on Lost Surfboards’ MAYHEM® trademark by releasing an album entitled “Mayhem,” launching a world tour under the same name, and selling merchandise using the same name. Of the nine claims raised by Lost Surfboards, five are state law claims under California law, while four are federal law claims. Because we do not practice in California and are not licensed to practice in California, this blog will focus solely on the federal law claims, but suffice it to say that the California law claims are essentially the state’s equivalent of trademark infringement and trademark-adjacent claims.

Since filing its Complaint on March 25, 2025, however, Lost Surfboards filed an Amended Complaint on April 14, 2025. The Amended Complaint reduces Lost Surfboards’ total claims from nine to five, with just two of the five claims being federal law claims. The two federal law claims raised by Lost Surfboards are (1) trademark infringement (15 U.S.C. § 1114); and (2) false designation of origin (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)).

Although Lost Surfboards’ Amended Complaint alleges that Lady Gaga is infringing upon its MAYHEM® trademark by releasing an album entitled “Mayhem,” launching a tour under the same name, and selling merchandise using the same name, the central issue is Lady Gaga’s use of “Mayhem” in the sale and offering for sale of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other merchandise related to the “Mayhem” album and tour.

The “Mayhem” logo being used by Lady Gaga on clothing and accessories is depicted below (top) next to Lost Surfboards’ MAYHEM® stylized logo (bottom):

Tune in for Part 2 of this series for a discussion of the specifics of Lost Surfboards’ claims, what exactly Lost Surfboards is asking for, and some of the case precedent the Court might consider.