Impact Wrestling, is in the midst of a lawsuit from Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Entertainment. PWInsider published a new lengthy report with the latest on the lawsuit today, including the response by Anthem Sports to the lawsuit.
Previously, Jarrett and GFE filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthem and Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC. The suit was filed on August 10 in the United States District Court of Tennessee. Jarrett and Global Force want a jury trial and an injunction that would prevent Anthem from copying, distributing, selling, offering for sale and displaying the GFW Amped content. Amped was the TV show that was previously filmed GFW in its earliest days.
Additionally, the injunction would prevent Anthem from using Global Force Wrestling and GFW names, the logo and anything that is similar to it, including “but not limited to, Global Wrestling Network, GWN, and the GWN logo.” On November 1, Anthem Sports filed a motion to the court to have the lawsuit dismissed.
Anthem responded to the lawsuit stating that Jarrett’s legal team failed “to state an adequate claim of copyright infringement” over the Global Force Wrestling Amped shows that Impact aired as pay-per-view shows. Additionally, Anthem also claims no official copyrights were filed on the material before the lawsuit was filed. The report indicates that is why Jarrett and his team tried to have a court order filed that would see Impact Wrestling hand over the Amped master tapes. That way they could file the copyrights on the 16 hours of GFW Amped content in question.
Another part of the lawsuit is that Jarrett is alleging that Anthem “violated Jeff Jarrett’s exclusive property rights to his own name, photograph, and other likeness.” To that, Anthem Sports responded, “Jeff Jarrett has previously authorized the use of his name and likeness as a trademark and Defendants own that trademark.” That means that Anthem is legally stating that after the company acquired TNA/Impact from Dixie Carter’s Impact Ventures, LLC, that included Jarrett’s likeness. The company’s legal response also reportedly had a statement from Jarrett giving consent to TNA Entertainment, LLC back in 2006.
The legal response by Anthem Sports contests that they can’t be sued in the state of Tennessee since Anthem is based in Canada out of Toronto. Anthem Sports wants to be dismissed as a defendant in the case, noting that Anthem Sports and Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions are two separate companies, and Anthem Sports is cited as a “holding company” that does not have “any day-to-day operations of any kind.”
Magistrate Judge Joe Brown reportedly ordered all discovery for the lawsuit be completed by July 1, 2019. If the lawsuit is not dismissed, it could go further into next year before it’s settled or tried in a court of law.
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