Jury Trial

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Over the past year, including in my blog post last month, we’ve traced the progression of the Coachella/Filmchella lawsuit, which was scheduled for trial earlier this month.  Approximately a week before trial, the parties settled the case and the Court entered a stipulated order as a result.  The order contains a permanent injunction prohibiting the Filmchella defendants from using the Filmchella marks, the Coachella marks, and any confusingly similar marks and requiring them to transfer certain domain names.  Like many trademark cases, this interesting and contested one did not make it to a jury.

The Coachella/Filmchella trademark infringement case, which we have previously covered here, here, and here, is headed to trial in California this October.  Last week, the federal judge assigned to the case denied Coachella’s partial summary judgment motion and ruled that a jury, not the judge, must ultimately decide whether the Filmchella founder committed trademark infringement by way of his movie festival.  The standard the judge had to apply was whether a reasonable juror could find that the two festivals are not similar enough to cause confusion, which is exactly what the judge determined.

As a result, the case will head to trial and will be decided by jury verdict.  Until then, the court’s preliminary injunction in favor of Coachella, which currently prohibits the use of Filmchella, remains in effect.