Urban Outfitters Wants Out of that Coachella-Filed Lawsuit

Urban Outfitters Wants Out of that Coachella-Filed Lawsuit

Urban Outfitters wants out of the lawsuit that Coachella filed against it earlier this year for allegedly using the music festival’s trademarks without authorization on various garments sold by its subsidiary label, Free People. According to court filings, the retailer asked ...

June 26, 2017 - By TFL

Urban Outfitters Wants Out of that Coachella-Filed Lawsuit

Case Documentation

Urban Outfitters Wants Out of that Coachella-Filed Lawsuit

Urban Outfitters wants out of the lawsuit that Coachella filed against it earlier this year for allegedly using the music festival’s trademarks without authorization on various garments sold by its subsidiary label, Free People. According to court filings, the retailer asked the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that it is not the same entity as Free People, and thus, is not liable for the alleged infringement.

According to Coachella Management’s complaint, which was filed in March, Free People, a subsidiary of Urban Outfitters, has sold unauthorized Coachella-branded apparel on its websites. Beyond that, the retailer has used “the famous Coachella [trade]marks in the webpage titles, meta description tags, meta keyword tags and URLs for pages containing the directly competitive goods.”

The famed festival’s lawyers also claimed that Urban Outfitters and Free People “ignored [its] demands to cease their unlawful conduct.”

UPDATED (OCTOBER 2, 2017): On September 22, the parties filed a notice of settlement with the court, stating that they were working to finalise the agreement. One week later, on Friday, September 29, District Judge John Kronstadt dismissed the case without prejudice. While the terms of the settlement agreement are confidential, they likely include a monetary sum paid from Urban Outfitters to Coachella in connection with the alleged infringement and an agreement that it will refrain from making use of any of Coachella’s trademarks going forward. 

* The case is Coachella Music Festival, LLC And Goldenvoice, LLC v. Urban Outfitters, Inc. And Free People of PA LLC, Civil Action No. 2:17-Cv-20207 (SDNY). 

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