Coachella sues underground music festival in TM row

The organisers of one of the US’s biggest music festivals have sued an underground festival that takes place in the same state, citing trademark infringement.

Coachella Music Festival, which is held in Indio, California every April, sued Hoodchella, a Los Angeles-based festival that is held in the same month.

In the lawsuit, filed on January 28, Coachella alleged trademark infringement and dilution, false designation of origin and unfair competition.

It also filed a cybersquatting claim, citing registration of the domain name hoodchella.com.

Hoodchella was first held in 2014, but the lawsuit was only filed this year.

The lawsuit, according to entertainment news website Billboard, targets Kamil Al-Ahdali, Hoodchella’s organiser.

According to the complaint, Coachella has no problem with Al-Ahdali organising a festival, but said he has “ignored repeated requests” to adopt his own distinctive name.

In response to the lawsuit, a petition has been set up calling for Hoodchella to be saved.

The petition, which had more than 300 signatures at the time of writing, was “specifically created for our supporters, everyone who supports Hoodchella Los Angeles and knows that we are not in any way associated with Coachella”, it said.

“It’s clear that our fan base knows we are two completely different establishments being that we already gained a fan base from our past underground art and music shows,” the petition added.