US music festival Coachella have asked UK MS Trust charity to change the name of their “Couch-ella” fundraiser event. The lawyers for the famous festival contacted the charity and informed them that the “chella” suffix was trademarked. The charity announced they would continue to host the event, but with a new name.

In an Instagram post, the charity announced the new name “MS Trust Home Festival” and said “The people running the real ‘Coachella’ in America won’t let us use ‘COUCH-ella’, so unfortunately we’ve had to change the name to ‘MS Trust Home Festival’. The event is still going ahead as planned on August 22, with all the same festival fun to be had, just without the soft furnishings!”

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Our festival has a new name! The people running the real ‘Coachella’ in America won’t let us use ‘COUCH-ella’, so unfortunately we’ve had to change the name to ‘MS Trust Home Festival’. The event is still going ahead as planned on August 22, with all the same festival fun to be had, just without the soft furnishings! What are you waiting for? Don some glitter, dig out your wellies and bring that festival vibe to your home! Every £ raised will help make a difference for people with MS. Click on the link in our bio to get your virtual ticket

A post shared by Multiple Sclerosis Trust (@ms_trust) on Jul 27, 2020 at 1:55am PDT

David Martin, chief executive for MS Trust, spoke to BBC News about the change saying; “They asked us to reconsider our name and see if there was something else we could use to avoid confusion, half of me thought ‘Shall we take them head-on?’ but in reality when lawyers get involved it costs a lot and we didn’t want to waste any of the charity’s money.”

Coachella is one of the biggest music and arts festivals in the world, usually held over two weekends in April. The event hosted 250,000 people last year. It is held in the desert at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. The 2020 event was originally postponed to October 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been cancelled altogether following orders from health officials.

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In the thick of it : @archiveofaffinities, @kerearchitecture : @calder

A post shared by Coachella (@coachella) on Apr 21, 2019 at 6:37pm PDT

The MS Trust charity is a small UK charity that supports anyone affected by multiple sclerosis, which is an incurable condition that affects the brain and spinal cord. The charity’s online festival takes place on the 22nd of August and will feature comedy and music acts as well as activities like yoga, dance and art events.

You can get your ticket for the online event here, the price for the event is a donation of your choice.