Thread by @senamisomoyo

This #IPThursday is by public demand. This week we’ll take a look at the ongoing trade mark dispute between Coachella and Afrochella. As this is still ongoing, just think of it as Part 1.

This one starts in 1993 with a man called Paul Tollett, who owned the concert promotion company Golden Voice. Golden Voice was organizing a concert for a band named Pearl Jam and were trying to have it at a venue in Los Angeles.

The company then held the concert at the Empire Polo Club in California, which wasn’t known historically for hosting large events. It was a success and the idea for hosting a music festival at the Polo Club was born.

Golden Voice struggled in the years that followed to host large concerts. The finances weren’t making sense and it was only in 1999 (6 years later) that they came back to host a smaller scale music festival at the Empire Polo Club.

Coachella has been a success over the years, and some of the most famous acts have performed at the festival, namely, Coldplay, Paul McCartney (for the older generation), Jay Z, Outkast and Lady Gaga amongst others. They have a lot of corporate sponsors and partners too.

Coachella’s always been popular in the US and a lot of other countries, but in 2018 its popularity soared globally when Beyonce headlined the event with arguably one of the music’s greatest performances. All in all, Coachella has been an incredible success over the last 13 years.

In fact, as the reputation of the festival grew, Golden Voice decided to protect its brand. They have registered trade marks in the US for Coachella in relation to concerts, music festivals and similar services.

Of late. Golden Voice has been aggressive in protecting their brand and they have filed no less than 6 lawsuits in this regard. They have gone after anyone who has attempted to use the Coachella name or the suffix "chella".

I’m gonna go through some of them below, including the one that has dominated recent news. I’m gonna go through msome of them here:

In 2015, a man named Kamil Al-Ahdali held an underground musical festival called Hoodchella. The event was such a success that the organisers decided to host it again the following year, and this time over an entire weekend at around the same dates as Coachella.

The following year, Goldenvoice filed a lawsuit against Hoodchella just as the tickets for their second festival went on sale (sound familiar?).

You see, over time Coachella had grown to be an upmarket event with general admission starting at around $450 and Hoodchella was going to be “cheaper knock off” in the “hood”. I think we all know what the “hood” is, but the term usually refers a lower income area.

Coachella demanded that the organiser of Hoodchella stop using the name and pay them $100k. They had no issue with Al-Ahdali hosting a festival, but they did not want them to use the suffix “chella” in their name

They were of the view that potential consumers would be confused into thinking that Hoodchella was associated with Coachella, which is trade mark infringement.

They also believed that the use of Hoodchella would be riding off their reputation, which is a form of unlawful competition called passing off.

Hoodchella initially refused to change its name, however, I couldn’t find the eventual decision online, so I’m not sure if Hoodchella is still around or if they caved and stopped using the name.

Golden Voice went after more entities, in 2017 they filed a lawsuit on similar grounds against a film festival called Filmchella, a Whole Foods location in Palm Desert that promoted a "Wholechella" concert and Sean “P Diddy” Combs, who hosted an event called Combchella.

All these lawsuits were based on the same or similar grounds. Which brings us to the latest and perhaps the most popular lawsuit…Afrochella

In 2019, Coachella became aware of African organisers promoting an event called Afrochella in Ghana. With a lineup of the best African acts. They sent a letter to them similar to the one they sent the other “infringers”.

COVID hit and the 2020 edition of Afrochella was postponed to this year, with dates set for 28-29 December in Ghana. The line up is set to include Burna Boy, Fireboy and Stonebwoy as well as their….“iceboys”. See what I did there?😭😭😭😂😂😂!

Anyways, I digress, Goldenvoice has now filed a lawsuit in the US against Afrochella on the same grounds.

They even allege that one of their founders (Edward Elohim) even admitted on Twitter that they purposefully chose the name with the intent of creating another version of Coachella in Africa, which would be trade mark infringement and passing off. A bit of an own goal here.

They claim that their wrongful conduct went further and they are now trying to register trade marks for Coachella itself in Ghana. Make of that what you will, but this may be a bad faith trade mark.

Goldenvoice even states that there have been instances of actual confusion from people online who thought the two festivals were related. Others claim that they bought tickets on the assumption that the two festivals were related.

Well, they are not and the organisers of Coachella want $100k as compensation for trade mark infringement, passing off and even cyber squatting as a lot of the people who have bought tickets were from the US.

So, will Goldenvoice be successful and will Afrochella still happen? Well, the event will likely still happen and it remains to be seen if it will still be marketed as Afrochella.

Are the trade marks similar? Yes they are and there is a likelihood of confusion given the reputation of Coachella. I’m just not sure how they will be able to make the lawsuit stick in Ghana, I dont what their IP landscape is like or if they have instituted proceedings there.

There is also a good case for passing off, it doesn’t help that the organisers have admitted to that the name is drawn from Coachella. It alludes to an African version of Coachella. “Afro” is not a distinctive term and doesn’t add much. Lemme know if you guys think there’s a case

Big lesson: Coachella have been after everyone who has dared to put “chella” in their mark over the years. This is because if you let one get away, your mark will be diluted and before you know it, its no longer distinctive. ❤️💛💚

@UnrollHelper