In an update on Tommy Gilbert, the father of the late “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert suing the WWE, the lawsuit which was filed last month in the Chancery Court of Henderson County, Tennessee has now been moved to the U.S. District Court Western District of Tennessee (Jackson) at the joint request of the WWE and ESPN, according to a report from PWInsider.com.
The report notes that in addition to Gilbert’s father Tommy suing, Gilbert’s younger brother Doug is also suing the company for using his likeness in the WWE library without having any rights to do so. The lawsuit is primarily aimed at them going after WWE, they 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 and while WWE now owns the Global Wrestling Federation library, ESPN has the rights to air old material.
The lawsuit claims 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. The lawsuit states that the Gilbert family claim that neither Doug nor Eddie (when he was alive) ever signed contracts with the WWE or ESPN releasing the rights to their names, likeness and matches, nor have they received compensation while WWE and ESPN have, upon information and belief obtained significant profits from the use of the Gilberts’ names and likenesses.
The report also states that in a filing on April 15th, WWE noted that it has successfully defeated similar lawsuits in the court before, citing suits brought against the company in the past by Doug Somerson (“Pretty Boy” Doug Somers) and Richard Blood (Ricky Steamboat).