Lady Gaga Seeks $232K in Legal Fees After Winning Trademark Case Against Surf Company

Lady Gaga filed a motion on Sept. 11 asking Lost Surfboards to pay her $232,484 in legal fees. This happened after a federal judge dismissed the company's trademark lawsuit over her Mayhem album last month. Her attorneys characterized the lawsuit as a publicity stunt intended to pressure her into a settlement. 

Lost Surfboards sued the star in March 2025. The company claimed that people who saw her album name would think it had their endorsement because her red Mayhem logo looked too much like theirs. A federal judge tossed the case in August, ruling no consumer confusion was likely.

"A litigant should not be permitted to use the federal courts to launch a publicity stunt masquerading as a lawsuit against a high-profile artist," wrote attorney Orin Snyder in the filing, according to Yahoo! Entertainment. "Nor should it be permitted to wield the machinery of litigation as a device for extracting a settlement that the merits cannot justify. This lawsuit was both."

Her legal team said that the case was never legitimate. It was an improper attempt to cash in on her fame by suing over "a common dictionary word."

Lost owners accused Lady Gaga of showing "blatant disregard" of their trademark rights when they filed the suit. Surfboard shaper Matt "Mayhem" Biolos has used the name and imagery on surfboards since the late 1980s. The company sought up to $100 million in damages.

"We don't want her money," Biolos said in a statement at the time, according to Vice. "We want her stuff. We want her to not make any merch with our name on it."

Judge Fernando M. Olguin denied Lost's request to stop Gaga from selling Mayhem-branded products in December 2025. The broader lawsuit continued until its dismissal in August 2026. In the fee motion, Gaga's lawyers said Lost also demanded that she sit for a full-day deposition during her international tour.

Attorney Keith G. Bremer said after the August dismissal that his client respectfully disagrees with the decision. He vowed to appeal, but he hasn't filed a notice of appeal yet. Bremer didn't return a request for comment on Sept. 14.

Federal trademark law allows judges to award attorneys' fees in exceptional cases. The singer's lawyers argue that this case was exceptional from the day it was filed.