According to a recent publication on Rollingstone, a copyright infringement complaint has been launched against the directors of Afrochella, a Ghanaian music festival that focuses on Afrobeats music, by GOLDENVOICE, THE CONCERT GIGANTIC BEHIND COACHELLA
Three years after receiving a warning from Goldenvoice owner AEG that the Afrochella festival was violating its trademark, the case was filed on Wednesday in a California district court and obtained by Rolling Stone.
“We understand that you are using Afrochella as the name of a music and arts festival. We note that your event is part of a larger celebration that is designed to attract those living abroad (including those in the United States) to return home to Africa,” AEG wrote to Afrochella organizers in 2019.
In spite of that initial caution and after a festival in 2020 that was postponed due to the epidemic, Afrochella returned to Accra, Ghana in 2021 and 2022. Goldenvoice filed a lawsuit to further preserve what they claim is ownership of everything “-chella,” despite the festival being scheduled to expand to South Africa later this month and organizers staging spinoff U.S. events.
Goldenvoice alleges in its lawsuit that Afrochella organizers even tried to patent both “Coachella” and “Chella” in Ghana, in addition to the events with the same names. They also pointed out that the “Chella” component of their Afrochella logo utilizes a typeface that is almost identical to Coachella’s.
