WWE denied motion to stop sellers of counterfeit merchandise

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana denied the WWE’s request for a temporary restraining order granting the sports and entertainment company the opportunity to protect it from anticipated bootleggers that will sell unauthorized and infringing merchandise at Wrestlemania, the biggest weekend in the company’s year.

Judge Helen Berrigan issued the ruling which reasoned that since the WWE could not name the potential infringers (the lawsuit was filed against John Does) or at least provide some information, it could not grant the WWE the authority as a “judicial imprimatur” to determine “when and from whom seizure (of alleged infringing goods) is appropriate.”

The WWE requested, like other leagues and touring music acts have done in the past, for a Court order granting it the ability to stop and seize unauthorized vendors selling unlicensed merchandise which infringes on one’s licensed trademarks.  Many fans of the WWE are in New Orleans for the 30^th edition of the WWE’s Super Bowl.  It’s the biggest event of the year for the company and its expected that there will be bootleggers selling counterfeit WWE goods.

While Judge Berrigan sympathized with the WWE and acknowledged the unenviable position it was in as a company which knows a wrong will happen but cannot tell the Court anything more than this, the Court could not grant it the relief it sought.

Judge Berrigan certified her ruling for interlocutory appeal which is an appeal of a ruling by a trial court that is made before the resolution of the claims.  According to the THR article, the WWE has filed a motion for reconsideration.  But, this motion will likely be heard by Judge Berrigan once again and unless there is something that was not brought up in the original WWE motion, it’s unlikely to succeed.

So, the WWE may still file the interlocutory appeal but this would have to happen now (the rules state it has 10 days but since Wrestlemania occurs this Sunday it’s now or never.)

Payout Perspective:

The overarching legal issue is that the Court would not grant the WWE the right to enforce its trademark by allowing it the right to go around and stop non-licensed vendors and confiscate their merchandise.  This was due the fact that it could not specify or identify the potential bootleggers.  To give an example of how much may be lost; investigators on behalf of the NFL seized $21.6 million in counterfeit NFL merchandise at this year’s Super Bowl.  The WWE claimed that their merchandise sales are “expected to be at least $19 million” per THR.  The WWE is not the NFL but this should give one a snapshot of how much may be at stake.  We will see what legal move the WWE does next but this ruling may be of concern for other big events where opportunists will try to make money selling counterfeit merchandise.