Judge says all systems go for NYE festival in Coachella

A U.S. judge has declared that Live Nation can continue selling tickets for the New Year’s Eve Day One 22 event, rejecting a request from Coachella promoters AEG/Goldenvoice to halt ticket sales altogether.

Judge R. Gary Klausner had initially ruled in favour of AEG/Goldenvoice nine days ago, slapping Live Nation with a ‘temporary’ restraining order preventing sales and the promotion of the event while the case was heard.

The event is being held at Coachella Crossroads – a venue owned by the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians in Coachella.

But, due to sovereign immunity, the tribe cannot be named as defendants in the lawsuit.

As Variety now reports, Judge Klausner made the ruling denying the restraining order and allowing the continuation of ticket sales on Monday.

The original order led to the event name being shortened from ‘Coachella Day One 22‘ to ‘Day One 22‘ to remove any reference to the 20-year-old music festival promoted by Goldenvoice and prevent any potential confusion or correlation between the two events.

But the plaintiffs had subsequently asked to have the order modified, to prevent Live Nation from selling tickets at all, “until the tribe no longer infringes on the Coachella marks in promoting the event.”

Klausner’s ruling noted that the plaintiffs had asked the court to prevent Live Nation from selling tickets to the New Year’s Eve event, “irrespective of the way that Live Nation promotes the event on Ticketmaster.com.”

But, he added, it was “no surprise” that the tribe had not stopped any “allegedly infringing behaviour” since it was not part of the lawsuit or restraining order itself.

Chairman for the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, Darrell Mike, said in a statement: “As a community and nation who reside in Coachella, California, we are equally thrilled that our outdoor venue, Coachella Crossroads, will be able to continue operation under its given name. The strong-arming of Goldenvoice and its parent company AEG to take reign over a name of a region and businesses who choose to identify with it is disrespectful to small and large business operations, those under their employ and the indigenous people who live within the valley.”

In their original complaint, plaintiffs AEG/Goldenvoice had asked the court to award damages for infringement and “unfair competition,” claiming the defendants were “intentionally trading on the goodwill” of the Coachella name by promoting “a directly competitive live music event.”

Judge Klausner called this argument “unpersuasive.”

Although the multi-weekend festival promoted by Goldenvoice is oft-referred to as simply, “Coachella” it is also the name of the legally-incorporated city where the festival site is located – and where the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians’ venue and event is located.

The single-day Day One 22 event on December 31st will feature Lil Wayne, DJ Diesel (the DJ persona of basketball Shaquille O’Neal), E-40 and Getter.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.