Message-ID: 

It's about time SOME judge realized there's a BIG difference between
an animal rights wacko group and a pro wrestling organization...which
that one complete idiot judge apparently was too stupid to figure it
out months ago.  Now...the animal rights wacko group were the ones who
on one hand thought the public was too stupid to know the difference
between the two organizations and wanted us to believe that the human
race would run out of food and starve ourselves to death by 2050. 
Well now's the time to change WWE back to the WWF cause no one really
liked the name change to began with.  GET THE F BACK IN!



WWE FINALLY BEATS WWF IN COURT  
by Dave Scherer

Updated: 4/17/2003 11:56:27 AM 
      

After losing a court battle to the World Wide Fund for Nature that
cost them their name last year, WWE sent out the following press
release today of a victory that they achieved against the Fund.

English Court Repudiates World Wide Fund for Nature; Ends Legal Block
To Sale of THQ/Jakks World Wrestling Entertainment Videogames

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2003--The Court of Appeals
in England has ruled that certain classic videogames of World
Wrestling Entertainment (WWE(TM)) performers can be sold by THQ/Jakks,
a blow to efforts by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the affiliated
U.S. World Wildlife Fund which had stopped the sale of the games
through lower court legal action.

In an order issued on April 7, 2003, the Court of Appeals of England
reversed a decision obtained by the international Fund and the
affiliated U.S. Fund (The Funds) from the High Court of Justice which
blocked the sale of certain classic videogames of WWE performers sold
by THQ/Jakks because they contained the old scratch logo.

World Wrestling Federation(R), in May 2002, changed its name to World
Wrestling Entertainment and modified its scratch logo to reflect the
name change in an effort to end more than a decade of harassment by
The Funds. The Funds then successfully moved to stop the sale of video
games originated before the name change that contained the old scratch
logo.

"Prior to the Christmas sale season, The Funds attempted to extort $90
million dollars from the WWE and threatened to interfere with WWE's
business relationships, as it has been doing for over a decade, if WWE
did not submit to their extortion," said WWE attorney, Jerry McDevitt,
partner in the law firm of Kirkpatick and Lockhart.

According to McDevitt, when the WWE refused to submit to their
demands, The Funds resorted to heavy handed practices such as
threatening to have WWE declared in contempt of the English courts for
disclosing the $90 million demand and threatening to sue the WWE and
its attorney in England for pointing out that The Funds' extortion
demand had been made by Michael Rogers, an English barrister with an
extremely questionable past.

"After threatening to sue us and have us thrown in English jails for
telling the truth about Rogers and The Funds, they next threatened to
have THQ/Jakks, the WWE's videogame licensee, held in contempt of the
English courts if THQ/Jakks sold certain classic videogames of WWE
performers because the gameplay had the former WWF scratch logo of my
client embedded in the gameplay," said McDevitt.

Around Thanksgiving, The Funds actually convinced a judge in England
to stop the sales of the games and declare that THQ/Jakks and WWE
would be in contempt of court if the games were sold. "The Fund did
that in a proceeding we were not even a party to and sale of the games
stopped," said McDevitt.

THQ/Jakks appealed the decision and WWE intervened in the appeal.
After hearing the argument, a three-judge panel reversed the trial
judge, repudiated all of The Funds' arguments, and ordered The Funds
to pay the legal costs of both THQ/Jakks and the WWE, an amount likely
to exceed $100,000.

Commenting on the decision, McDevitt noted that the Court of Appeals
of England expressly stated that The Funds had not shown any damage
whatsoever caused them by the sale of videogames and that The Funds
did not have exclusive rights to the initials "WWF." "We have said all
along that The Funds have not, and could not, be damaged by anything
my client has ever done, and it is a matter of record that The Funds
have never come forth with proof of any monetary damage," said
McDevitt.

Linda McMahon, CEO of WWE, stated "We never understood why these
environmental groups have harassed us for years until we received
their $90 million demand made under threat of harm to our business. We
have never done a thing to damage them, but they have done nothing but
try to damage us and most recently threatened harm if we didn't pay
the $90 million, which we refused to do. Now, they will have to pay
what looks to be in excess of $100,000 in legal fees caused by this
latest episode, no doubt from monies raised from the public for other
purposes. I hope that a voice of reason will arise among the leaders
of the international and U.S. Funds, and that they will see to it that
this unfair harassment of WWE ends once and for all."


--- Internet Rex 2.29