Goldenvoice, the organizers of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, are suing Live Nation Entertainment for contributory trademark infringement, Billboard reports.
Coachella Music Festival, LLC and Goldenvoice, LLC filed the complaint (viewed by Pitchfork) in a California federal court yesterday (December 13). Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and the web hosting company Bluehost, Inc. are named as defendants.
In the lawsuit, Goldenvoice claims that a music festival called Coachella Day One 22 infringes upon its Coachella trademarks by using an event name, as well as advertising, promotional, and marketing materials that are “strikingly similar” to those used by Goldenvoice for Coachella.
The Coachella Day One 22 event is organized and promoted by the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians. The group and its Coachella Crossroads, LLC are not named as defendants “because both have asserted through their counsel that they are entitled to sovereign immunity, and not subject to suit,” according to the complaint.
Instead of suing the the Twenty-Nine Palms tribe, Goldenvoice is suing Live Nation for selling tickets to Coachella Day One 22 on its Ticketmaster website. Goldenvoice claims that “Live Nation has unfairly profited from” Coachella Day One 22’s alleged infringement. In addition, Bluehost is being sued for hosting the website coachellacrossroads.com.
Pitchfork has reached out to representatives and attorneys for Goldenvoice and Coachella, as well as representatives for Live Nation Entertainment and Bluehost.
