Update on Jeff Jarrett Lawsuit Against Anthem Media After Failure to Reach Settlement
PWInsider has the latest update today on the ongoing lawsuit between WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett and Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment. As previously reported last month, both sides failed to reach a settlement on the issue. Jarrett’s lawsuit stated that Anthem and Impact Wrestling violated state and federal trademark laws in regards to Jarrett’s Global Wrestling Entertainment, along with Jarrett’s property rights to his name, photograph and likeness.
In the latest report, Anthem reportedly filed motions on April 23 with the United States District Court of The Middle District of Tennessee, and stated why the most recently filed version of the lawsuit should be dismissed from court.
The first motion stated that Jarrett and GWE “have now filed three complaints in this case and still have failed to properly allege a basis for diversity jurisdiction against Anthem Wrestling. Moreover, Plaintiffs have served at least three sets of written discovery and Defendants have produced in excess of 12,000 pages of documents in this case.” Additionally, Anthem’s camp stated that Jeff Jarrett’s counsel has not able to prove that Anthem falls under the proper jurisdiction of that court.
Additionally, Anthem claimed there is no trademark infringement because GWE and Jarrett failed to properly copyright and trademark GFW Amped! TV tapes. Also, Anthem claimed that Jarrett provided a working license for the company to use the Amped tapes. Since Jarrett does not have physical possession of the GFW master tapes, which Impact apparently has deleted, it’s being argued that claim should not go forward in the lawsuit. Additionally, it was stated that Jarrett and Global Wrestling Entertainment should filed copyrights been refused the ability to register in order to claim copyright infringement in court.
Anthem responded to the claim that his name and image are being used illegally and that they need to relinquish the trademark on the Jeff Jarrett name and character that was acquired as assets that were seized when Anthem took control of the company from Dixie Carter. Anthem stated: “Plaintiffs attempt to make the convoluted argument that Jeff Jarret is a ‘real person’ and not just a ‘character’ like Hulk Hogan or theRock. This is immaterial. Jeff Jarrett authorized the use of his name and likeness because he was the Chief Content Officer and the Anthem Wrestling employee in charge of deciding what content would be used. He selected and pushed for the use of his own image and likeness. This alone is authorization and forecloses him from arguing that Defendants’ use was without permission.”
In short, Anthem is claiming that Jarrett cannot hold the company accountable for decisions that he made when he previously worked for the company. Anthem also responded to a claim that Anthem illegally used evidence from previous court motions and documents. Anthem’s response was that all of their evidence is available for public research and discovery, and nothing was brought into the court that is out of bounds.
