Diahann “Dee” Williams
Goldenvoice, the company behind the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the Ghanaian Music festival, Afrochella.
On Oct. 14, Goldenvoice filed a lawsuit in California district court in which they accused Afrochella of “trading on the goodwill of [Coachella and Goldenvoice’s] well-known COACHELLA and CHELLA festivals and trademarks by actively promoting music events in the United States and in Ghana using the confusingly similar mark ‘AFROCHELLA’.” The company also claimed that Afrochella “fraudulently” attempted to register both trademarks as their own.
“Defendants even went so far as to apply in Ghana to register Coachella and Chella as their own trademarks, using the exact same stylization as Plaintiffs’ registered Coachella (stylized) mark,” the suit states, according to Complex. Goldenvoice is filing the suit because they don’t want festival-goers to believe that Afrochella is “authorized by” or “affiliated with” the company or Coachella.
Goldenvoice is seeking “damages for trademark and service mark infringement and unfair competition.” Additionally, the company wants Afrochella to fork over $100,000 for allegedly “cybersquatting” various domain names.
This isn’t the first time Goldenvoice and Afrochella have been at odds
This isn’t the first time the two major festivals have been at odds. In 2019, Goldenvoice reportedly sent a warning notice to Afrochella to cease using their trademark. However, organizers of the popular event ignored the warning and went ahead with throwing the festival in Accra, Ghana in 2021. The Ghanaian music festival was originally scheduled to take place in 2020, but it was postponed due to the pandemic.
Despite their ongoing legal dispute, Afrochella is still scheduled to take place this year on Dec. 28 and Dec. 29. Burna Boy, Stonebwoy, and Black Sherif are among the artists expected to perform at the event. Pitchfork noted that later this month, the organizers plan to expand the festival to South Africa.
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