Live Nation’s Merch Traffic Takes Legal Action Over Counterfeit Artist Merch

Merch Traffic – a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment, and the exclusive US licensing agent for Avenged Sevenfold, Nirvana, Bruno Mars, Harry Styles, The Cure, and more – is taking legal action against a group of anonymous online sellers, accusing them of selling counterfeit versions of its artists’ merchandise.

The details:

• The trademark lawsuit was filed on August 5 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

• It targets a group of e-commerce operators identified only on a “Schedule A” attached to the filing. Merch Traffic alleges that the sellers use aliases to conceal their identities.

• As per Music Business Worldwide, the suit brings two counts under the Lanham Act: trademark infringement and counterfeiting, and false designation of origin.

• Merch Traffic is asking the court to bar the sellers from continuing to infringe, turn over an accounting of their profits, and award damages of up to three times the amount of the infringement.

• Alternatively, it is seeking statutory damages of $2 million for each counterfeit trademark.

• The court is also being urged to stop third-party providers such as PayPal, Amazon, eBay, Temu and Walmart from displaying the defendants’ listings and ads.