Stardom Announces They Are Considering “Necessary Measures” After Claims of Alleged Intellectual Property Theft

Stardom announced earlier today that they are currently considering “necessary measures” after claims of them recently being the victim of intellectual property theft.

It was announced that they had recently completed an internal investigation over the unauthorized sale of trading card products by another company. This issue was stated to involve this undisclosed company utilizing the likenesses of former Stardom wrestlers that feature photos taken of those wrestlers when they were still with their company.

While the offending company in question was not named, it is currently believed to be rival promotion Marigold and them selling Mayu Iwatani cards featuring photos of her during her time in Stardom.

Stardom’s official website:

To All Concerned Parties and Fans,

We sincerely thank you for your continued support of Stardom.

Currently, card products utilizing the likenesses of former Stardom wrestlers (hereinafter referred to as ‘the subject products’) are being manufactured and sold by another company.

Following an investigation conducted by our company, we have confirmed the following facts regarding the advertising copy for the subject products and some of the cards enclosed within them:

* The products bear the advertising text ‘Stardom Memorial’

* They use portraits of wrestlers from their time under our management

* They utilize intellectual property managed by our company, such as belts and logos

* They use photographic materials shot by our company for product use, and incorrectly display copyright notices attributing copyright to the other company

However, as the company managing the rights to the aforementioned intellectual property and past athlete portraits, we have neither been requested to grant permission nor have we been involved in any way regarding the sale of this product.

Moving forward, we intend to consider necessary measures to protect the intellectual property rights we hold or manage.

We would appreciate your understanding of the above. Thank you for your kind attention.