Jeff Jarrett Suing Impact Wrestling’s Parent Company, Anthem Entertainment

Jeff Jarrett and his company, Global Force Entertainment LLC filed a lawsuit last week against Anthem Sports & Entertainment and Anthem Wrestling, which own Impact Wrestling.

The lawsuit was filed on August 10 in the United States District Court of Tennessee and mostly involves Anthem/Impact’s continued use of the Global Force Wrestling brand and the sale of GFW content without compensating Jarrett, after Jarrett was fired from the company.

A merger between Impact Wrestling and Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling was announced in April 2017 and Impact began heavily using the GFW brand, though no official agreement had actually been signed and Jarrett still owned the GFW name. Jarrett was officially let go from Impact in October 2017.

According to PWInsider, the lawsuit alleges the following (among other things):

– Anthem violated state and federal trademark infringements in relation to GFE.

– Anthem violated Jeff Jarrett’s exclusive property rights to his own name, photograph, and other likeness.

– Anthem has used “a reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation of the GLOBAL FORCE WRESTLING and GFW trademarks” in commerce, therefore they are in violation of the Lanham Act, which prohibits trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising.

– Jarrett alleges that after he was terminated by Anthem, the announced merger between Global Force Entertainment and Anthem never went through and that “despite Anthem Wrestling’s acknowledgement of GFE’s ownership of all GFW Amped content, Defendants reproduced, distributed, publicly displayed, offered for sale, and sold the GFW Amped content without providing any compensation or royalties to GFE or Mr. Jarrett.”

– “Upon information and belief, Defendants continue to monetize the GFW Amped content as pay-per-view, premium television, streaming, and other viewing options on a worldwide scale,” specifically mentioning the Global Wrestling App and DVDs sold via the Impact Wrestling website.

Jarrett / Global Force Entertainment are seeking “an award of punitive and/or treble damages for at least three times the amount of Defendants’ profits or GFE’s damages, whichever is greater, due to the nature of Defendants’ wanton and willful conduct.”