Abracadabra! Lady Gaga has emerged the victor in a lawsuit that claimed that the name of her album Mayhem ripped off a trademark owned by a surf company.
Last year, Lost Surfboards filed a suit against Gaga, claiming that the name “Mayhem,” as well as the font she was using on merch, would make consumers think that it was connected to the company’s Mayhem brand of surfboards, surf accessories, clothing and other merchandise. But in a Tuesday decision obtained by ABC News, Judge Fernando M. Olguin dismissed the suit with prejudice.
The judge found that because the alleged infringement was connected to a “expressive work protected by the First Amendment” — an album — the claim would be extremely difficult to prove.
In addition, the judge found that there was insufficient evidence that the alleged infringement was deliberately designed to mislead the public into thinking their merchandise and Lady Gaga’s were connected.
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