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26 June 2017Trademarks

Urban Outfitters attempts to distance itself from Coachella TM claim

Retailer Urban Outfitters has attempted to distance itself from any wrongdoing in a trademark dispute brought against it by the organisers of music festival Coachella.

In March of this year, WIPR reported that the organisers of the festival had accused the retailer, and its subsidiary Free People, of selling ‘Coachella’-branded apparel.

Urban Outfitters also allegedly used the trademarks in webpage titles, meta description tags, meta keyword tags and URLs for pages containing the “directly competitive goods”.

The claim was filed at the US District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.

In a motion for dismissal filed on Thursday, June 22, Urban Outfitters claimed it does “not belong” in the case as Urban Outfitters and Free People are “recognised as distinct legal entities”.

“Plaintiffs allege no facts from which a factfinder might plausibly infer that Urban Outfitters exerts control over every facet of Free People’s business,” said the claim.

In the initial complaint, Coachella stated that Urban Outfitters wholly owns and controls its Free People subsidiary and “mandates an overall business and budget strategy” for it.

In response, Urban Outfitters said: “These are merely conclusory, formulaic recitations of portions of the test, bereft of any factual specificity, and therefore unworthy of credence on a motion to dismiss.”

It concluded in saying that it “respectfully requests the court grant its motion to dismiss”.

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Trademarks
2 October 2017   The organisers of music festival Coachella have settled a trademark dispute with Urban Outfitters.