Madonna's management has laughed off suggestions that she has renamed her new single to avoid being sued by the creator of the adult video series Girls Gone Wild, saying she has never even heard of Joe Francis, the pornographer in question.

Francis has claimed Madonna's new song, Girl Gone Wild, was originally slated to take the plural – Girls Gone Wild. He said he sent the star a cease-and-desist letter after she announced the tracklist of her album, prior to her appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show on 5 February. "We won a battle but we didn't win the war," Francis told the New York Daily News, alleging that "Girls" became "Girl" as part of ongoing legal negotiations. It was "an immediate solution for them to thwart any injunctive relief", Francis said, but he still wants Madonna to license the Girls Gone Wild trademark: "We've been talking," he said, "and I think we're going to get somewhere that will be mutually satisfactory."

Madonna's manager has a different version of events. In an interview with TMZ, Guy Oseary brushed off Francis's accusations. The song title was changed to match the way Madonna sings the lyric in the chorus, he said, and he doesn't recall ever receiving a letter from Girls Gone Wild's lawyers. Furthermore, Oseary cited the dozens of other singles that have used the name Girls Gone Wild, including tracks by Ludacris, Jagged Edge and Lil Rick. The song's co–writer, Vancouver songwriter Jenson Vaughan, also denied the title had been changed for legal reasons.

Released this week, Girl Gone Wild was recorded in London with dance producers Benny and Alle Benassi. It is the second single from MDNA, Madonna's 12th studio album, due out on 26 March.