Muscle Flex Inc., which bills itself as a leading-edge fitness, health and lifestyle company, announced earlier this month that it will sue the World Wrestling Entertainment for its alleged unauthorized use of the term “Raw” in Canada.
Muscle Flex claimed that it had accumulated significant evidence that it believes proves undeniably that the WWE distributed and sold “Raw”-labeled products that infringed on its intellectual property. Among the items it claims to have are various CDs, VHS tapes and a number of apparel items. The company believes WWE’s consumer products and digital media business segments produced $40 million in revenues in the latest quarter.
In a strongly worded statement, Danny Alex, CEO of Muscle Flex, said: “If someone steals your car and decides to drive it for 15 years knowing it was yours, how would you react? Now that the appeal process has concluded, Muscle Flex has begun the process to fully monetize all elements of its ‘In the Raw’ trademark including all infringement and potential damages caused by the WWE in its unauthorized use of ‘Raw’ in Canada. This has been a very long process and I fully intend to bring full and complete restitution to Muscle Flex shareholders… full stop.
“We are measuring the specific potential damages the WWE has caused over the years and the dilution of our ‘In the Raw’ brand in Canada as a result of WWE’s infringement. In 2002, we issued a Cease and Desist order that was ignored by the WWE as they continued to sell ‘Raw’ branded merchandise, and continue to do so in Canada, knowing that ‘In the Raw’ was and is a registered trademark in Canada and has been for many years prior.”
