Green Day Sues Bootleggers In Queens Who Plan To Sell Tour Merch

FLUSHING, QUEENS — Green Day is suing people who plan to sell counterfeit versions of its tour merchandise at an upcoming show in Queens, a new lawsuit contends.

The Grammy-Award-winning rock band and its record label, Warner Records, filed suit in Brooklyn's federal court Monday, demanding that any bootleg merchandise sellers at an Aug. 4 concert at Citi Field hand over a still-undetermined amount of money, records show.

“[Green Day has] suffered, and will continue to suffer, irreparable harm and damage” from the sale of bootleg tour merchandise, including a “presently incalculable” loss of money, the complaint reads.

In addition to violating trademark laws, these counterfeit items of "inferior quality" could harm Green Day and Warner Records' reputation for selling “high quality” tour merchandise, according to the suit.

Counterfeit merchandise sellers need to hand over all of the bootleg merchandise — including but not limited to t-shirts, sweatshirts, face masks, hats, stickers, posters, accessories, and toys — and pay for Green Day’s attorney fees, the complaint reads.

This lawsuit comes six stops into the “Hella Mega Tour,” which Green Day is headlining alongside Fall Out Boy and Weezer.

An online schedule shows that the tour, which was postponed amid the pandemic, began its string of national performances on July 24, and is slated to end on Sep. 6. The international leg of the tour has been postponed until next year.

At every stop on the tour — including in New York — Green Day says that people will try to sell counterfeit versions of the “Hella Mega Tour” merchandise, according to the suit.

A Green Day representative did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment as to why the suit was filed in New York, out of the 20-plus tour stops.