By Jesse Suchanek on July 20, 2004 at 5:43 PM EST

World Wrestling Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Marvel Comics recently, seeking to maintain the rights to the "Hulk Hogan" name as it launches its WWE 24/7 Video on Demand service.

According to an article that ran on the Bloomberg News wires today, Marvel is claiming that WWE's rights to the name expired this month. WWE claims it owns the rights until March 2005.

WWE needs the Hogan name in order to market and distribute the WWF, WCW, and WWE matches they want to use as part of the Video on Demand service.

WWE originally licensed the rights from Marvel in 1985 when the comic book company came forth during the national WWF expansion, citing that Hogan's ring name was infringing on the rights of their "Incredible Hulk" character that was created in the 1960s by Marvel patriarch Stan Lee.

The original agreement between the two companies covered the terms "Hulk Hogan", "The Hulkster", and "Hulkamania."

One of the reasons that WCW often downplayed the Hulk Hogan name in favor of "Hollywood" Hogan was due to the legalities of the Hulk Hogan name.

Special thanks to Victor Martinez for passing along the article.

**Credit: PWInsider