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US: Judge dismisses Coachella antitrust suit

By  |  October 8, 2018

According to a report from Billboard, a federal judge has dismissed an antitrust suit filed by an Oregon festival promoter against AEG and Coachella Thursday, October 4, but declined to rule on several other key elements of the lawsuit, including unfair competition claims.

In a ruling made from the bench, District of Oregon Judge Michael Mosman partially granted AEG’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Soul’D Out Productions, but gave the Oregon promoter leave to refill the lawsuit if they amended their definition of relevant markets, one of the key factors in evaluating an antitrust case.

“Establishing the correct product market is something the courts require with a degree of particularity,” said Nika Aldrich, who filed the suit against Coachella in April. He further told Billboard that his client had tried to book three acts also performing at the 125,000-person festival—Tank and the Bangas, SZA, and Daniel Caesar—for their Portland event, but were turned down because of Coachella’s 2018 radius clause.Judge Mosman declined to rule on those counts, and he later issued an order denying a request by Coachella organizers to strike a letter from evidence detailing the festival’s nationwide, five-month radius clause for the festival that takes place over two weekends in Indio, California and attracts 250,000 fans.

Full Content: Billboard
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