Coachella orders UK charity festival to change name

coachella
Coachella festival site

The festival has trademarked the suffix “-chella”.

The organisers of Coachella have forced a festival hosted by the MS Trust to change its name. Couch-ella was due to take place on 22 August, raising funds for the charity which supports people affected by multiple sclerosis, however, lawyers from the American double-weekender told the charity that the suffix “-chella” was under trademark.

The festival will now go ahead under the name MS Trust Home Festival. David Martin, the MS Trust’s chief executive told the BBC: “They asked us to reconsider our name and see if there was something else we could use to avoid confusion. Half of me thought ‘Shall we take them head-on?’ but in reality when lawyers get involved it costs a lot and we didn’t want to waste any of the charity’s money.”

The MS Trust Home Festival takes place online and will feature comedy, music, yoga, dance and more for people to enjoy from home. Coachella was forced to cancel its 2020 edition due to the coronavirus pandemic.