Coachella Sues Hoodchella Organizers for Trademark Infringement

The lawsuit wants to put a stop to the festival.

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Complex Original

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Coachella Music Festival is one of the nation’s largest live music events, earning over $84 million in revenue and breaking attendance records last year. It’s no wonder they take their namesake very seriously.

According to Billboard, Coachella’s organizers have filed a lawsuit against Hoodchella, an underground Los Angeles music festival that’s also held in April. In the suit, Coachella alleges “trademark and service mark infringement, false designation of origin, dilution, unfair competition and cybersquatting, a term used in this case over the fest's registration of the hoodchella.com domain name.”

The suit targets Kamil Al-Ahdali, a Pomona native who is in charge of Hoodchella. Last year, the urban festival was held on Saturday (Apr. 11) and featured various DJs and vendors from around the area, as well as up-and-coming acts such as Fame School and members of Awful Records. Recently, Hoodchella announced plans to expand from a one-day to a three-day festival this year, which might have been the reason for the lawsuit.

“Plaintiffs have no objection to Al-Ahdali’s holding a music festival; but Al-Ahdali has ignored repeated requests from plaintiffs to adopt his own distinctive festival name,” the lawsuit claims.

Coachella is seeking at least $100,000 in addition to the injunction, attorney fees, the release of the Hoodchella domain name, and other damages.

From Hoodchella’s standpoint, they don’t seem to be giving up so easily. Hoodchella’s official Twitter page is promoting a change.org petition made by artist Chasity Londyn with the hashtag #Savehoodchella. It currently has 151 supporters.

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