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The lawsuit brought against World Wrestling Entertainment over the rights to the ring name of former WWE star Gangrel (Dave Heath) by CCP hf and CCP North America was ended for the second time when the case was dismissed by Judge Marvin H. Shoob on 4/22.
The order noted that the case was dismissed with prejudice and that each side would be responsible for their own court costs, which means that unlike the last time the case was dismissed, it won't be rising again from the grave . The court had previously warned CCP that they were overdue in pursuing the case and that since nothing had advanced in six months, they were to show cause as to why the case needed to continue or risk it being thrown out. When CCP failed to follow up, the case was dismissed.
CCP had claimed that WWE, which licensed the right to the name of the character used in a role-playing game that pre-existed David Heath being hired by WWE through 2003, continued to use the name without permission or payment in Heath's subsequent appearances.
Judge Shoob decreed in June 2008 that CCP could not prove they had been actively utilizing the trademark nor that their Vampire-based games including their Gangrel character, so they were unable to sue for infringement. Their claim that they use and continue to use the Gangrel name was ruled "insufficient to allege trademark rights." At the time, Shoob also shot down CCP's claims that WWE using the Gangrel character (which appeared mostly in one-shot appearances or WWE developmental events in recent years) without proper credit, they were misrepresenting the ownership of the character and/or implying its programming is affiliated with CCP.
Judge Shoob noted in 2008 that the court would be open to CCP pursuing a copyright issue over the use of the character but the way trademark law is written, CCP couldn't prove their case and when WWE filed a motion to dismiss based on that issue, the Judge sided with WWE.
CCP later opted to pursue the copyright issue several months later but the case never went anywhere, leading to the Judge's decision on 4/22.
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