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GILBERT FAMILY NOT JUST SUING WWE: THE COMPLETE DETAILS

In an update from what we wrote earlier today about Tommy Gilbert, the father of Eddie Gilbert, suing WWE, PWInsider.com has acquired a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed last month in the Chancery Court of Henderson County, Tennessee and has now been moved to the U.S. District Court Western District of Tennessee (Jackson) at the joint request of WWE and ESPN (see below for ESPN details).

It is not just Gilbert's father suing, but also Gilbert's younger brother Doug. Doug is suing for WWE using his likeness in the WWE library without having any rights to do so. Doug appears in the NWA Wrestlewar 1989 PPV wrestling The Great Muta and as The Dark Patriot in ECW and Global Wrestling Federation material that WWE owns and could potentially use for the WWE Network and other platforms.

The Gilberts are primarily going after WWE, but are also suing ESPN and ESPN Classics, Inc. for utilizing footage of the late Eddie Gilbert as material from the Global Wrestling Federation, which is shown out of sequence regularly on ESPN Classics, has included Gilbert in the past. While WWE now owns the Global library, ESPN has the rights to air old material that was once seen on the network, which is why footage from the AWA and Global is seen on their ESPN Classics cable network.

The lawsuit claims filed by the Gilberts include that WWE and ESPN "violated the Gilberts’ rights of privacy and/or publicity by using their names and likenesses without permission or any license in order to obtain profits" including wrestling matches aired via television and the Internet, the WWE Encyclopedia and in the case of ESPN, airing matches featuring Doug and/or Eddie via television.

In their lawsuit, the Gilbert family claims that neither Doug nor Eddie (when he was alive) ever signed contracts with WWE or ESPN releasing the rights to their names, likeness and matches, nor have their received compensation while WWE and ESPN have, "Upon information and belief, Defendants have obtained significant profits from the use of the Gilberts' names and likenesses."

In a filing on 4/15, WWE noted that it has successfully defeated similar lawsuits in the court before, noting suits brought against the company in the past by Doug Somerson (former AWA Tag Team champ Pretty Boy Doug Somers) and Richard Blood (Steamboat).

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