A musician in California is suing Cody Rhodes for his use of the “American Nightmare” mark. The musician had entered into a settlement agreement with the WWE superstar but he claims that WWE and its vendor, Fanatics intentionally violated the contract.
The lawsuit was filed by musician Wesley Eisold in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Eisold is the lead singer of the punk rock band American Nightmare. He had filed the mark for “American Nightmare” for the band as well as for apparel. He registered the trademark in November 2016.
Rhodes (real name Runnels) filed for the “American Nightmare” trademark in the area of apparel as well in March 2019. Eisold opposed the application in August 2019. As is the process with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Rhodes had a chance to respond which he did by filing an order to cancel Eisold’s trademark.
The two sides entered into a settlement agreement in which Eisold was paid $30,000 in exchange for Rhodes not register the mark. Eisold states that the agreement also included a proviso that any apparel include Rhodes’ name and relate to wrestling. This was due to Eisold’s motif for “American Nightmare” which focused on a counter-culture look. See below example which was attached as an exhibit to the lawsuit.
However in 2022, Eisold was alerted to a new clothes from WWE and Rhodes which he asserted was a breach of their agreement due to the use of the mark. Eisold argued that the clothes were “counter-culture or punk styled and often featured a wing skulled embossed with stars and stripes, a black and white wing skull and other variations with the American flag.
Eisold argues that the depictions are similar and will lead to confusion. He has included social media posts of individuals who have confused the two marks.
Eisold states that when cease and desists were sent to the defendants there was no response.
At this point, the parties have stipulated for Runnels to have an extra 30 days from the date of filing of the lawsuit to lodge an Answer with the Court. The extra time is likely for a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit or for the parties to negotiate another settlement. The issue that Eisold does not want to run into is to have WWE/Runnels and Fanatics attempt to cancel the trademark for Eisold as it did in the USPTO level. WWE/Runnels and Fanatics are not going to go away so we will see how this will play out and how long this may be litigated.
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