Surfboard shaper Matt Biolos was in highschool when he began jotting the phrase “Mayhem” on his binder, he stated, drawing the emblem that will later outline his now well-known, San Clemente-based surf model over the following 40 years.
So when he noticed singer Woman Gaga’s tour utilizing the identical title – with the same font and likeness to the Mayhem he and enterprise companion Mike Reola have constructed right into a model synonymous with surf, skate and snow tradition, he stated he was greatly surprised.
Misplaced Worldwide LLC, their firm that features the Mayhem model, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, March 25, arguing trademark infringement, demanding the singer cease utilizing the Mayhem brand.
The sale of attire and equipment by one of many world’s largest stars utilizing the acquainted title and brand will dilute the repute of his counter-culture model that, along with her publicity, would now be thought-about mainstream, Biolos argues.
Based on the lawsuit, Gaga, named Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta within the go well with, introduced the Mayhem album and worldwide live performance tour on March 7. Shortly after, she began promoting T-shirts and different objects of clothes with the Mayhem brand prominently displayed, with an almost equivalent design as utilized by Misplaced on its merchandise, the go well with alleges.
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San Clemente surf store proprietor and shaper Matt Biolos has been utilizing the Mayhem title and brand for practically 40 years, trademarked in 2015. He argues Woman Gaga’s use of the phrase is a trademark infrigement on his model. (Photograph by Laylan Connelly/SCNG)
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San Clemente surf store proprietor and shaper Matt Biolos has been utilizing the Mayhem title and brand for practically 40 years, trademarked in 2015. He argues Woman Gaga’s use of the phrase is a trademark infrigement on his model. (Photograph by Laylan Connelly/SCNG)
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“Lady Gaga’s Mayhem soared to No. 1 and shattered records, a testament to her unmatched talent and global impact,” Gaga’s lawyer Orin Snyder stated in a press release on Thursday. “It’s disappointing — but hardly surprising — that someone is now attempting to capitalize on her success with a baseless lawsuit over the name Mayhem.”
Biolos stated he reached out to the Gaga camp to ask them to cease utilizing his brand for T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats and different attire as her tour readied to launch, however stated he was principally laughed at by her authorized staff.
“It’s a black-and-white legitimate problem. We reached out going, ‘Do you even realize what you’re doing here?’” he stated. “We wanted to talk amicably, to figure out how we could quietly make it go away. We had to write an injunction. We had to go the legal route. We had to defend our trademark. This is my life.”
Biolos stated he has been utilizing the emblem since his highschool silk screening class and it’s even featured in his 1987 yearbook. He began shaping surfboards with the emblem that very same yr, and launched a Mayhem clothes model across the brand shortly after.
The corporate has used the emblem for practically 40 years on garments and surfboards across the nation, and has had it trademarked since 2015, in accordance with the lawsuit.
Biolos is well-known within the surf tradition, with among the greatest surfers on this planet sponsored by his Mayhem model and using the surfboards marked with the emblem. Simply final yr, Biolos was inducted into the San Clemente Board Builders Corridor of Fame.
Gaga’s Mayhem gear is already promoting on-line. The lawsuit argues the singer’s merchandise is “substantially similar if not nearly identical” to the surf model’s merchandise.
“It looks exactly like ours,” Biolos stated.
“I can’t stop her from naming her album Mayhem,” he stated. “When she uses lettering like our lettering, it’s a gray area. This is a bite on us. The real issue is her selling clothing with our trademark brand name.”
It doesn’t matter how the phrase Mayhem is written, he argues, it’s using the phrase itself that’s an infringement.
“If she wanted to name her album ‘Guess,’ and made T-shirts with the word ‘Guess’ for that album, I can tell you right now, that company is going to stop her no matter how she writes that word ‘Guess’ across a T-shirt,” he stated. “The same can go for a myriad of other brands.”
Biolos argued some 20,000 followers will go to a live performance at SoFi Stadium and purchase attire with the Mayhem title and brand, and that mainstream market isn’t what his model is about.
“Our brand is a stand-alone brand, it represents something: core surfing,” he stated. “People want to wear it to show they are part of this culture of surfing and snowboarding. After a 50-stop tour, and a million articles of clothing sold, it dilutes our message.”
Snyder referred to as the lawsuit in opposition to his consumer, “nothing more than an opportunistic and meritless abuse of the legal system.”
Although the lawsuit seeks at least $100 million in damages, Biolos stated that determine was seemingly added by his authorized staff for shock worth and he’s not fascinated with Gaga’s cash.
“We want her to stop selling clothing, accessories or anything that falls under our categories. We want her to not do it,” he stated. “Her big problem is, she has an album and tour called Mayhem. It’s a problem she’s got herself into.”
There’s additionally a accountability to a number of licensees who’ve paid to make use of the Mayhem brand and title, comparable to Lib Tech snowboards, the second largest snowboard model on this planet, and DaKine, which additionally has a Mayhem line for his or her surf and snow gear, as do Carver Skateboards and Catch Surf, Biolos added.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court docket, within the Central District of California.
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