Black Widow
02-27-2011, 07:33 PM
An update on the ongoing WWE lawsuit against J.F. Ramos, a company based out of Portugal that had acquired the license to produce WWE licensed clothing (shirts, trousers, hats and gloves).
First, some back story on the lawsuit:
WWE filed a lawsuit against Ramos in September 2010 as a result of a currently ongoing legal proceeding in France. Sun City, Inc., a French company, sued WWE for of $21,632,489 in damages after World Wrestling Entertainment alleged that Sun was selling counterfeit merchandise to stores based in France.
As it turned out, Sun City had purchased the clothing from J.F. Ramos. WWE has claimed the clothing are unapproved items that were wrongfully passed off to Sun as legitimately endorsed by the company.
After Sun filed their lawsuit against WWE in France, WWE opted to file their own lawsuit against J.F. Ramos on 9/2/10 in the United States District Court of Connecticut, blaming the company for the French proceedings and requesting that their licensing agreement be severed (it expired several months later in December 2010). WWE also demanded that Ramos be responsible for any legal costs in the French lawsuit and that Ramos be barred from trying to pass off any additional WWE-related merchandise as legitimately licensed.
In their suit against Ramos, WWE alleged that Ramos misappropriated paperwork for items the company did approve to be licensed and forged new paperwork in order to move additional shirts and other apparel that WWE did not give company approval for, without WWE's knowledge.
In their initial filing, WWE noted that after they sent a cease and desist letter to Sun City over the unlicensed material, Sun City went to Ramos for proof the items were officially licensed and claimed, "Ramos, in response, deceptively created fraudulent approval sheets(based on prior forms where WWE had, in fact, denied Ramos approval for the distribution of certain products), and provided these fraudulent approval sheets to Sun City."
Those actions by Ramos, according to WWE, led to the lawsuit filed against them in France. WWE noted that the French lawsuit is "relying upon the fraudulent approval sheets submitted to it by Ramos, contends that the Counterfeit Clothing was, in fact, not counterfeit, but was approved by WWE and therefore lawfully obtained from Ramos. Sun City further claims, among other things, that WWE engaged in unfair commercial practices by “succeeding in diverting Sun City’s customers through false accusations of counterfeiting to the clients of the plaintiff.” Sun City’s allegations are false; contrary to Sun City’s allegations, the product sold by Ramos to Sun City, and then by Sun City to its customers, was the Counterfeit Clothing—i.e., WWE never approved for sale the Counterfeit Clothing."
In an interesting twist, Ramos filed a motion to dismiss the WWE lawsuit on 2/4, citing the currently ongoing legal issues in France. In short, since the French judicial system features a requirement that the losing party cover the victor's losses and court costs, should WWE win, a ruling against Sun City would cover anything WWE would deserve related to the case. Should WWE lose against Sun City, only then would a lawsuit against Ramos need to be heard. Ramos is claiming that WWE filed a lawsuit over potential damages, but until the proceedings with Sun City in France run their cost, WWE doesn't have any damages to claim...yet.
World Wrestling Entertainment is slated to reply by 3/28 to the motion.
PWI
First, some back story on the lawsuit:
WWE filed a lawsuit against Ramos in September 2010 as a result of a currently ongoing legal proceeding in France. Sun City, Inc., a French company, sued WWE for of $21,632,489 in damages after World Wrestling Entertainment alleged that Sun was selling counterfeit merchandise to stores based in France.
As it turned out, Sun City had purchased the clothing from J.F. Ramos. WWE has claimed the clothing are unapproved items that were wrongfully passed off to Sun as legitimately endorsed by the company.
After Sun filed their lawsuit against WWE in France, WWE opted to file their own lawsuit against J.F. Ramos on 9/2/10 in the United States District Court of Connecticut, blaming the company for the French proceedings and requesting that their licensing agreement be severed (it expired several months later in December 2010). WWE also demanded that Ramos be responsible for any legal costs in the French lawsuit and that Ramos be barred from trying to pass off any additional WWE-related merchandise as legitimately licensed.
In their suit against Ramos, WWE alleged that Ramos misappropriated paperwork for items the company did approve to be licensed and forged new paperwork in order to move additional shirts and other apparel that WWE did not give company approval for, without WWE's knowledge.
In their initial filing, WWE noted that after they sent a cease and desist letter to Sun City over the unlicensed material, Sun City went to Ramos for proof the items were officially licensed and claimed, "Ramos, in response, deceptively created fraudulent approval sheets(based on prior forms where WWE had, in fact, denied Ramos approval for the distribution of certain products), and provided these fraudulent approval sheets to Sun City."
Those actions by Ramos, according to WWE, led to the lawsuit filed against them in France. WWE noted that the French lawsuit is "relying upon the fraudulent approval sheets submitted to it by Ramos, contends that the Counterfeit Clothing was, in fact, not counterfeit, but was approved by WWE and therefore lawfully obtained from Ramos. Sun City further claims, among other things, that WWE engaged in unfair commercial practices by “succeeding in diverting Sun City’s customers through false accusations of counterfeiting to the clients of the plaintiff.” Sun City’s allegations are false; contrary to Sun City’s allegations, the product sold by Ramos to Sun City, and then by Sun City to its customers, was the Counterfeit Clothing—i.e., WWE never approved for sale the Counterfeit Clothing."
In an interesting twist, Ramos filed a motion to dismiss the WWE lawsuit on 2/4, citing the currently ongoing legal issues in France. In short, since the French judicial system features a requirement that the losing party cover the victor's losses and court costs, should WWE win, a ruling against Sun City would cover anything WWE would deserve related to the case. Should WWE lose against Sun City, only then would a lawsuit against Ramos need to be heard. Ramos is claiming that WWE filed a lawsuit over potential damages, but until the proceedings with Sun City in France run their cost, WWE doesn't have any damages to claim...yet.
World Wrestling Entertainment is slated to reply by 3/28 to the motion.
PWI