Music festival season has come to a close, but that hasn't kept the nation's most beloved festival, Coachella, out of national headlines. Last week Coachella's parent company Goldenvoice announced that it was suing the organizers of the similarly named Ghanese music festival, Afrochella, over copyright infringement.
According to Goldenvoice, organizers of Afrochella have infringed on Coachella's copyrights after taking up a similar-sounding name to brand their afrobeat music festival. Afrochella, which was first launched in 2017 in Ghana, has grown to become a well-recognized festival by concertgoers throughout Africa and the U.S.
The lawsuit was filed at a California District Court last week and comes three years after Goldenvoice’s parent company AEG issued a warning to Afrochella organizers about using a similar-sounding name. In 2019, Goldenvoice wrote a letter to Afrochella organizers expressing their frustration.
The letter explained in part, “Regardless of the celebration or event, your use of Afrochella as the name of a music and arts festival is highly likely to create a likelihood of confusion and mistake as to the affiliation, connection, or association of you with AEG and with Coachella.”
The letter goes on to explain that because the names are so similar sounding, the public is under the false impression that Afrochella is associated with Coachella. The letter even points out that Afrochella organizers admitted that they were inspired by Coachella in naming and creating their festival.
As with all festivals and events, the Ghanaian afrobeat festival was put on hold during the pandemic, but in 2021 and 2022, the festival debuted again in Accra, Ghana. Since then, the festival has plans to expand to parts of South Africa and even produce offshoot events throughout the U.S.
With the popularity of afrobeat music on the rise, Afrochella has seen a rise in success as well. In part, it’s this rise in popularity that pushed Goldenvoice to file a lawsuit in order to stop what they explain is a copyright violation.
The lawsuit explains that Afrochella organizers attempted to patent the term “Coachella” and “Chella” in Ghana. “Not simply content to imitate and attempt to trade on the goodwill of Chella and Coachella, 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 lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also includes evidence from social media screenshots that show how the public has confused Afrochella and Coachella. One example reads “Tbh first time I heard the name Afrochella I thought Coachella was trying to enter the African sphere.”
Coachella’s parent company is asking the courts to put a restraining order on the name Afrochella. Coachella's parent company is also seeking damages for the trademark and service mark infringement violation that led to unfair competition.
Because Afrochella used a North American-based domain name, Afrochella organizers were able to unlawfully pull in U.S. festival goers. In doing so, Coachella's parent company is seeking over $100,000 in damages for allegedly cybersquatting domain names.
