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 The Eagles have settled a lawsuit to stop a Mexico hotel from
using the name "Hotel California," arguably the country-rock
band's most famous song, after the hotel's owners withdrew their
application to trademark the name in the United States.
A joint dismissal of the band's lawsuit against Hotel California
Baja LLC, which runs the Todos Santos hotel in Baja California
Sur, was filed on Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Los
Angeles.
"This case has been settled by mutual agreement of the parties,"
Thomas Jirgal, a lawyer for the Eagles, said in an interview on
Thursday.
The dismissal came on the same day the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office accepted Hotel California Baja's request to permanently
abandon its trademark application.
Neither the hotel nor its lawyer immediately responded to
requests for comment.
"Hotel California" is the title track from the 1976 Eagles album
of the same name, and won the 1977 Grammy award for record of
the year.
It is known for a long guitar outro by Don Felder and Joe Walsh,
and abstract lyrics that lead singer Don Henley told CBS News in
2016 depict "the dark underbelly of the American dream."
Hotel California Baja was accused of wrongly encouraging guests
to believe the Eagles authorized using the song's name, such as
by playing the band's songs throughout its property.
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The Eagles said this was done in part to spur sales of T-shirts,
posters, refrigerator magnets and other merchandise for guests to
take home after they check out and leave.
In court papers, Hotel California Baja denied it was trying to
mislead guests, and said they were unlikely to be confused.
Located about 1,000 miles (1,609 km) south of San Diego and 48 miles
(77 km) north of Cabo San Lucas, the hotel had been called Hotel
California when it opened in 1950.
It underwent some name changes, but the original name was revived
after John and Debbie Stewart, a Canadian couple, bought the
property in 2001.
The case is Eagles Ltd v Hotel California Baja LLC et al, U.S.
District Court, Central District of California, No. 17-03276.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Matthew
Lewis)
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