Lady Gaga Fights Bid to Block ‘Mayhem’ Merch in Trademark Suit

Lady Gaga urged a federal judge to deny a surf brand’s effort to prohibit her from selling clothing bearing the word “Mayhem” while its lawsuit accusing her of trademark infringement progresses.

Lost International LLC’s theory that consumers would confuse Lady Gaga’s merchandise with the brand is “nonsensical,” according to an opposition filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Central District of California, citing a surf website remark that not even “a moron in a hurry would confuse these brands.”

Lost sued Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known as Lady Gaga, in March, alleging her T-shirts and other clothing promoting her recent album bear a “nearly identical design” of the word “mayhem” as Lost uses on its own products.

Lost moved for a preliminary injunction this month barring Germanotta from the using its registered “Mayhem” trademark to market and sell clothing and headwear, including beanies, caps, jackets, pants, sandals, shorts, t-shirts, and tank tops.

The motion should be “dead on arrival,” according to Germanotta’s opposition, because the First Amendment and fair use doctrine protect her use of the mark. Germanotta argues freedom of speech shields her use because it’s expressive, not source identifying, and doesn’t explicitly mislead consumers about the source of the products.

She also argues the fair use doctrine protects her because “mayhem” is used descriptively and not as a mark, noting that where her merchandise is sold plainly indicates her as the source by including the words “Lady Gaga” or “Gaga,” or her face.

Consumers will encounter Lady Gaga merchandise and Lost products in different areas of the marketplace, the opposition says. While Lost “purposefully limits the distribution” of its clothing to retailers who sell their surfboards and “embody the niche surf counter-culture,” Lady Gaga merchandise is almost entirely sold on ladygaga.com or on her concert tour.

“Germanotta has no interest in selling surf gear,” the opposition said.

The balance of equities weighs against an injunction because thousands of hours and millions of dollars have already been invested in her merchandise, Germanotta argued, and it would be “highly burdensome, costly, and environmentally harmful to reproduce it without the word ‘mayhem.’”

Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara LLP and Knobbe Martens represent Lost International. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP represents Germanotta.

The case is Lost Int’l LLC v. Germanotta, C.D. Cal., No. 25-cv-00592, opposition filed 5/15/25.