WWE has filed a motion to have the lawsuit filed against them by Doug Gillbert and the estate of Eddie Gilbert thrown out. PWInsider reports that the company filed for dismissal in the suit, in which Doug and the estate claimed WWE was using Eddie and Doug’s images and likenesss on their TV programming and other media platforms without their express permission and also without paying them royalties for the rights to do so.
In the motion WWE states that the plaintiffs did not produce and don’t own the rights to the footage, claiming that the lawsuit is “an attempt by Plaintiffs to gain an unfair and unwarranted windfall at the expense of WWE and its co-defendants, ESPN, Inc. and ESPN Classic, Inc. (collectively, “ESPN”), for the exploitation of intellectual property to which Plaintiffs have no rights whatsoever.” The motion adds that WWE “invested heavily” in obtaining, producing and distributing the footage, “without which the works alleged in Plaintiffs’ Complaint would not exist. The law does not permit Plaintiffs to unfairly profit from WWE’s investment in its copyrighted works wholly unrelated to Plaintiffs.”
The company also pointed to previous lawsuits, such as Doug Smomers and Steve Ray’s, as examples of other claims that failed in the courts. They argued that WWE has not invaded the Gilberts’ privacy by airing old matches and using Eddie’s picture in the WWE Encyclopedia as they fall under copyrights that WWE owns via the video library.
ESPN filed their own, similar motion to dismiss the suit against them yesterday.
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