WWE & Ryback Still In Heated Legal Battle Over Name — Documents Revealed

Ryback and WWE are still in the middle of a legal battle over The Big Guy’s name. WWE replied to Ryback’s lawsuit and have denied his claims.

Ryan Reeves legally changed his name to Ryback Reeves following his WWE exit. The company filed a trademark for “Ryback” in 2011, and then they renewed it in 2019, three years after Ryback left the company.

On May 15, 2019, Ryback Reeves filed an application for ownership of the name. The trademark office has yet to grant him ownership due to an on-going legal battle. Ryback filed legal documents on July 27th and WWE responded on September 4th. As reported by Heel By Nature, WWE had something to say in response to all of Ryback’s claims.

WWE combated nearly every one of Ryback’s claims except for a few which simply clarified the situation at hand. They simple replied: “denied” to the following statements in Ryback’s filing:

• The Registration is likely to cause injury to Petitioner and Petitioner’s rights in the Reeves Mark and the Reeves Application.
• When WWE filed the application for the RYBACK Mark on October 12, 2011, the name RYBACK unquestionably referred to Petitioner Ryback Reeves. Petition to Cancel Page 2 of 6
• Reeves never consented to the registration of the mark RYBACK by WWE.
• RYBACK is in Petitioner’s own application for the mark RYBACK, in Application Serial No. 88431776.
• When WWE filed the application for the RYBACK Mark on October 12, 2011, the name RYBACK unquestionably referred to Petitioner Ryback Reeves. The only written consent signed by Reeves consenting to the registration of Petition to Cancel Page 3 of 6
• At the time WWE filed file the application for the RYBACK Mark, the mark would have been recognized as pointing uniquely and unmistakably to Reeves.
• Reeves’s connection would be presumed when WWE uses the RYBACK mark.
• On information and belief, the mark in the Registration has been discontinued by Registrant in the United States for the services set out in the Registration with no intent to resume such use.
• On June 18, 2019, when the Section 8 Declaration was filed, the examples of use
  provided by WWE were more than three (3) years old.
• The Section 8 declaration contained several false representations to the USPTO, including the false claim that WWE was using the mark Ryback in U.S. Commerce for the Section 8 Services on June 18, 2019.
• On June 18, 2019, WWE knew that it was not using the name RYBACK, for, “wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer” or for, “providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network.”
• In the Section 8 Declaration, WWE made the false representations to the USPTO with the intent to deceive the USPTO.

WWE is trying to say that they can use the Ryback name and fans won’t draw any correlation to the wrestler who uses that same name. Ryback is still fighting this situation in court.

Ryback legally changed his name to gain footing in this case, but it didn’t work for him either. He recently went on a long social media rant about WWE’s pettiness. This is exactly what he was referring to.