SANTA ANA – A rough year for the Beach Goth Festival got messier on Monday when the Observatory, the Santa Ana music venue which has hosted the fest since its debut in 2012, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Growlers, the indie rock band that has presented this celebration of eclectic music each year.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Santa Ana by the Observatory’s parent company, Noise Group, alleges that the Observatory created the Beach Goth festival and owns the rights to its name and merchandising.

It then claims that the Growlers as a group, as well as individual members Brooks Nielsen and Matt Taylor, and several other entities, have infringed on the trademarks and have used the Beach Goth name and trademark to benefit the band and defendants financially, and seeks an unspecified amount in compensation.

The Growlers are currently on tour in Europe and neither Nielsen or Taylor or a representative of the band could be reached for comment on Tuesday. Calls and emails sent to the Observatory, its publicist and attorneys were not answered.

Even before the lawsuit was filed, Beach Goth 5, held Oct. 22-23, had experienced more troubles than the first four combined. Originally slated for Oak Canyon Park in Irvine, only a few weeks before the fest problems with that location caused it to move back to the Observatory, angering many fans who’d expected a new and bigger location.

Then the weekend of the festival was plagued by overcrowding at many of the festival’s four stages, with fans also complaining about a lack of amenities and minimal VIP benefits. Rain on the second day of the festival added to the woes as some acts had to cancel due to the weather and equipment problems.

In interviews Nielsen gave the Register this year and in 2013, the Growlers’ singer described the band as being intimately involved in putting on the festival each year, talking about working on everything from picking the bands on the bill to worrying about the layout of the festival grounds.

“At least one time a year we get to curate something and have one big, crazy party,” Nielsen said in October a week or so before Beach Goth 5. “We’re still making all this so it feels like the DIY parties we used to play.”

Publicity materials sent out by the Observatory as well as the official festival posters have also used the phrasing “the Growlers present Beach Goth.”

The lawsuit, however, alleges that the Observatory is the creator of the festival and the Growlers were not partners in the venture but only one of the bands booked to play Beach Goth. The lawsuit contends that Jeffrey Shuman of the Observatory booked the Growlers to play the Observatory for two nights in October 2012 and later had the idea of expanding those shows into “something special.”

The lawsuit asserts that Shuman booked the festival bill, though it also says he allowed the Growlers to nix a few acts they preferred not be part of the inaugural Beach Goth, and also to suggest other bands be added to the bill, but alleges that Noise Group paid the Growlers as the venue “would normally compensate a musical act, and not as a partner.”

The dispute seems to have heated up after the Growlers applied for a trademark for Beach Goth in 2014, according to the lawsuit, and though it says that application was later dropped, and Noise Group itself applied for trademarks, the Growlers this year formed a company called Beach Goth Festival and used the Beach Goth name to promote the Growlers and band merchandise.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com