WWF Loses Court Battle
Looks like the freakin' panda won the battle against World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. Justice Robin Jacob ruled that the wrestling company breached the 1994 agreement the WWF had with the World Wildlife Fund - now known as the Worldwide Fund for Nature. This defeat in court may be costly for World Wrestling Federation Entertainment as they may be permitted only a limited use of the initials 'WWF' and may have to change the address of their website currently located at WWF.COM.
We contacted Gary Davis, WWF Vice President of Corporate Communications earlier today via phone to get some more information regarding the situation. The court hearing will allow the parties to discuss how the judge's opinion will be implemented. Until that is known, Davis said WWFE cannot specify outcomes and the costs associated with those outcomes. He said WWFE intends to file an appeal after the October hearing. Davis added that until the next court hearing in October, it's business as usual. WWF.COM will still operate and nothing will be changed for now.
When asked what impact will the ruling have on the company, he added that right now there's no impact at all and it's basically a 'we'll cross the bridge when we come to it' situation. Davis feels that the company didn't break the agreement they had with the Worldwide Fund for Nature however the judge thought otherwise. When asked what will happen if the appeal is not successful, Davis said that right now it's only speculation and a number of things can change between now and then. There might be limitations on the use of the current 'scratch' logo. Regarding what name would the company use for marketing in case it all goes wrong, Davis said, "It's too early to speculate." No matter what the outcome will be, Davis said that the WWF will still operate with or without a new name, TV shows will go on, products will be marketed and the website with or without a new address will still be accessible and will still be one of the most visited sites on the Internet.