Heel By Nature.com is reporting that it appears WWE was forced to abandon the pursuit of the Brock Lesnar name for the former WWE World and Universal champion. Lesnar’s last WWE expired following WrestleMania 36 in April, and he became a free agent.
The report notes that in September, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) cancelled a trademark on the name after WWE had failed to comply with a documentation request. Previously, WWE filed an application for the name on January 9. The request was later denied by the USPTO on March 12, noting that WWE had to provide written consent from Lesnar to use the name and move forward with the trademark application. Also, Brock Lesnar is the former WWE Superstar’s real name. Also, the USPTO took issue with verbiage utilized by WWE in the trademark filing.
As of March 12th, WWE had six months to provide the USPTO with a written consent from Lesnar, which never materialized. This led to the trademark filing being abandoned on September 15.
On October 12th, the USPTO sent WWE an “Official USPTO Notice of Abandonment” for failing to respond to the office action in a timely manner. You can view an image of the documentation sent to the WWE at the above link.
The register of a trademark for a living individual’s first name, pseudonym, stage name, or nickname must have a written consent signed by that individual provided by the applicant. Last month, it was reported that WWE attempted to file a trademark for Mia Yim (aka Stephanie Bell and Reckoning), but they also failed to provide documentation of written consent. WWE reportedly has the ability to appeal the USPTO’s decision, but they would have to provide valid reasoning for the delay in responding to the request for documentation.
