Anthem Files Counter-Suit Against Jeff Jarrett, Claim Jarrett Knew GWF Master Tapes Had Been Deleted

– Impact Wrestling’s parent company has filed a counter-suit against Jeff Jarrett and GWE over the copyright lawsuit filed against them. PWInsider has the length details of the counter-suit, which essentially break down to, among other things, Anthem claiming that:

* Anthem is the rightful owner of the copyright for Jeff Jarrett and have done everything necessary to maintain the registration;
* Jarrett and GWE granted Anthem a license to use Jarrett’s name and GFW’s assets;
* Anthem has not made money off their usage of the GFW Amped content that Jarrett is claiming they have inappropriately used;
* Jarrett was aware that Anthem deleted the master Amped tapes to “free up storage space;
* There’s no likelihood of confusion between Jarrett/GWE and Anthem’s trademarks because the products “contained both parties’ marks”;
* That the tradmearks for GFW and Impact’s Global Fighting Network are not similar, and that GFN has been dropped in favor of Impact Plus.

Anthem’s version of the story alleges that they entered into talks with Jarret to merge GFE into Anthem in exchange for Jarrett getting a “seat on the board of managers, an officer-level position with a large salary, a job for Mr. Jarrett’s wife, and an equity interest in Anthem Wrestling.” Jarrett would work with Impact and would bring the GFW brands on board, along with the footage for Amped!. Anthem argues that the Amped content had been taped two years prior and had not been used, as Jarrett signed a $292,000 deal with Kevin Sullivan for his company KSTV, LLC to handle the post-production work. Jarrett and GWE then allegedly failed to make the required payments, so KSTV refused to release the finished work to them. The Anthem/GWE deal was supposed to be a way out for Jarrett, and Anthem paid $40,000 to KSTV as part of a plan to get the content.

When Jarrett’s employment was terminated in October 2017, the merger did not move forward. Anthem claims that all but one of the existing claims Jarrett has against Anthem in the lawsuit are due to decisions Jarrett made while working as Impact’s Chief Creative Officer, making him responsible for the damage he’s accusing them of doing to him. This includes giving “both express and implied permission for Anthem Wrestling to use the Amped Content, the Plaintiffs’ trademarks, and Jarrett’s own image and likeness … Moreover, while acting as Anthem Wrestling’s Chief Content Officer, Jarrett participated in and authorized the selection of the trademark GLOBAL WRESTLING NETWORK for use by Anthem Wrestling.”

The counter-suit asks that Anthem be reimbursed for the $40,000 they paid to KSTV, “plus post-judgment interest as the sum Plaintiffs have unjustly retained by accepting the benefits of Anthem Wrestling’s $40,000 payment to KSTV and any other relief to which Anthem Wrestling is entitled after a full trial on the merits.”

As a final note, Anthem claims that Jarrett and GWE are not due the jury trial they’ve requested, noting that the term sheet that the parties entered into when Jarrett began working for Anthem says, “EACH OF THE PARTIES HEREBY IRREVOCABLY WAIVES ANY AND ALL RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY LEGAL PROCEEDING ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS SUMMARY OF TERMS OR THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED HEREBY.”