The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and its organizer, Goldenvoice, are suing Ghana’s Afrochella for alleged trademark infringement.
The lawsuit was filed in a California federal court on Wednesday, October 5.
In the suit, Coachella and Goldenvoice claim that Afrochella is “intentionally trading on the goodwill of [Coachella and Goldenvoice’s] well-known COACHELLA and CHELLA festivals and trademarks by actively promoting music events in the United States and in Ghana using the confusingly similar mark ‘AFROCHELLA’ and by fraudulently attempting to register Plaintiffs’ actual trademarks as their own.”
Coachella Music Festival, LLC and Goldenvoice, LLC filed a similar lawsuit last year against Live Nation Entertainment for contributory trademark infringement.
Coachella and Goldenvoice sued Live Nation Entertainment for selling tickets to the event, which allegedly infringed upon Coachella’s trademarks. The lawsuit was settled earlier this year.
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Also, the organizer of Afrochella, Goldenvoice is also seeking “damages for trademark and service mark infringement and unfair competition,” as well as $100,000 over claims of cybersquatting domain names.
Afrochella 2022 is scheduled to take place on December 28 and 29 at El Wak Stadium in Accra, Ghana.
Artists on the bill include headliners Burna Boy and Stonebwoy, as well as Ayra Starr, Fireboy DML, Black Sherif, and more.
The complaint was regarding an event organized and promoted by the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians called Coachella Day One 22.
Source: pitchfork.com
