EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ (CelebrityAccess) — Live Nation is taking an aggressive stance against knockoff merch vendors ahead of an upcoming Coldplay concert at MetLife Stadium this weekend.
According to the Asbury Park Press, the promoter's merch division Live Nation Merchandise Inc. has successfully asked for a temporary restraining order and authority to seize merchandise from yet-to-be-named vendors.
The seizure order will apply at the show in East Rutherford later this week and at more than 20 other Coldplay shows on their North American tour. The order will be in effect from four hours before the show til four hours afterward.
In the promoter's court filings seeking the TRO, they identify all such illicit vendors as "John and Jane Doe" and claimed that counterfeiting of the Coldplay trademark by unlicensed dealers “constitutes an attempt to palm off and appropriate to themselves the group’s and the plaintiff’s exclusive rights” and could cost the promoter and the artist hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The TRO is similar to other court orders granted in recent years allowing Live Nation to seize counterfeit goods and judges in Illinois and New York have granted similar authority for concerts by artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Black Sabbath, the Asbury Park Press said.
“This illegal merchandise seriously impairs sales of authentic, authorized merchandise within the arenas, particularly because much of the bootleg merchandise is sold prior to the concert,” Santa Monica, California, lawyer Cara R. Burns, who represents Live Nation Merchandise, said in a court document filed in Newark. – Staff Writers
