Brett Kelman

The Desert Sun

A federal judge has denied a request from the Desert Trip festival for authority to confiscate and destroy any “bootleg” T-shirts and merchandise being sold outside the epic classic rock concert, which starts Friday in Indio.

Although unsuccessful, the request provides further evidence that companies behind Desert Trip and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival have become more litigious this year. The concerts have now gone to federal court at least five times since January to defend their brands from scalpers and copycats.

READ MORE:Coachella sues scalper over artist wristbands – again

This latest case, however, may be the strangest yet. The lawsuit, filed one week ago, names no one in particular as a defendant. Instead, Desert Trip makes a preemptive argument that bootleggers will sell “unauthorized” merchandise outside the upcoming concert, confusing concertgoers and piggybacking profits.

Desert Trip – a six-day, two-weekend music festival – is expected to be one of the biggest and most-profitable rock concerts of all time. The lineup includes Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, The Who and Roger Waters. Tickets cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, and more will be spent on T-shirts, hats and other souvenirs.

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In lengthy arguments, Desert Trip contends it won’t be able to stop merchandise bootleggers without a preemptive strike. When confronted at past concerts, bootleggers often refused to identify themselves or leave the area, and very few kept sales records. If sued through a traditional method, they simply destroyed evidence of any authorized merchandise.

“It is clear from the nature of their activities that they will be present in this jurisdiction only long enough to sell their illegal goods. After the illegal goods are sold, they will promptly disappear,” wrote Desert Trip attorney David Steele in a court filing. “Simply stated, there is no other means to preventing defendants from destroying plaintiff legitimate business without a seizure order.”

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To stop this, Desert Trip asked for a court order that would tell police to seize all “infringing merchandise” near the concert, and allow concert staff to do the same. Anyone with unauthorized T-shirts would be required to surrender them for destruction.

Coachella was granted an order like this in 2012 – as were the Stones, McCartney and Waters during prior tours – according to court records.

This time, however, they were turned down.

Federal Judge Philip Gutierrez denied the request last week, then reaffirmed his decision on Wednesday. Gutierrez noted that Desert Trip helped create its own crisis by waiting until late September to file its request.

Steele did not immediately return a request for comment. Coachella and its business partners do not discuss their lawsuits.

The lawsuit spree from Desert Trip and its sibling festival, Coachella, began early this year, when Coachella sued a smaller concert – Hoodchella – for trademark infringement, arguing the events and names were too similar. Hoodchella changed its name to Noise in the Hood.

READ MORE: Coachella sues Hoodchella because SoCal isn't big enough for two 'Chellas

In April, Coachella filed two lawsuits against two companies it accused of re-selling artist passes, which are reserved for musicians and their guests. The lawsuits show that although Coachella is generally willing to tolerate the scalping of general-admission wristbands, the festival is cracking down on the resale of the festival’s most exclusive passes.

In the second lawsuit, Coachella sued Phillips 66, a Fortune 500 company that runs 76 gas stations, over a promotional contest that gave away wristbands to next year’s music festival.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached at 760 778 4642 or brett.kelman@desertsun.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @TDSbrettkelman.