Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Over Bloodline Entrance In WWE 2K Dismissed

The copyright lawsuit filed against WWE and 2K Games over the Bloodline’s entrance in the WWE 2K games has been dismissed. As you may recall, WCWA Wrestling promoter Nathaniel Tatha-Nanandji filed a lawsuit against 2K and WWE back in January. He allged that he developed a “distinctive, repeatable visual sequence” for the faction known as Tier 1 in WCWA, which WWE appropriated for their entrance for The Bloodline and then made its way into the 2K franchise.

PWInsider reports that the judge in the case has dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice ahead of a settlement conference that had been scheduled for October 26th. The judge ruled that while Tatha-Nahandji had copyrights for the entrance in place, there was “no copying of constituent elements of the work that are original” and that WWE did not have access to the material.

Tatha-Nahandji had alleged that WWE had seen the footage after a wrestler who had performed on WCWA asked for footage that WWE could used for scouting review, and that “weeks” after the sequence was being used on WWE TV. He also said that an unnamed WWE employee attended a WCWA event in March of 2019, and stayed in contact with him through 2021.

The court stated in the September 19th ruling:

“The Court notes that the Tier 1 Sequence does not appear to be consistent across the Plaintiff’s exhibits as alleged in the Complaint. Defendants’ alleged infringing material is consistent in each iteration of the exhibits provided, and the Court finds that a reasonable person, reviewing the materials together, would only see the similarities amongst the Defendants’ clips but not the Plaintiff’s clips….In the Court’s opinion, the clips presented to establish substantial similarity have not met the standards required by the case law. For the foregoing reasons, the Court finds that the Plaintiff has failed to meet the requirements of access and substantial similarity as required for copyright infringement. As such, Plaintiff has failed to state a claim for direct copyright infringement.”