BusinessInsurance.com reports that a judge in New Orleans ruled today that WWE can seize counterfeit merchandise. An appellate court ruled today and overturned a previous lower court ruling.
WWE had filed suit seeking an ex-parte seizure and temporary restraining orders in regards to seizing counterfeit merchandise. Ex-parte is a legal term referring to something done by or for one party.
A District court denied the request but the 5th Circuit appeals panel said, “Without knowing the identities of persons against whom seizure would be ordered, the district court thought it was unable to evaluate WWE’s likelihood of success in showing such persons had used a counterfeit mark.”
“WWE cannot know in advance the specific identities of counterfeiters who will present themselves at any a given event, but it does know that any non-affiliated seller at or near an event is almost certainly a counterfeiter,” said the ruling, in remanding the case to the lower court for further proceedings.
WWE originally filed the request in April during WrestleMania XXX week in New Orleans to combat bootleg merchandise being sold in the area.
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Monday’s episode of WWE RAW, with Vince McMahon’s return and Team Authority hype, drew 4.04 million viewers, up 8% from last week’s 3.745 million viewers.
For this week’s show, the first hour drew 4.043 million viewers, the second hour drew 4.203 million viewers and the final hour drew 3.875 million viewers.
RAW and Love & Hip Hop Hollywood were the highest rated shows on cable behind the NFL’s Monday Night Football.
Monday Night Football with the Indianapolis Colts vs. the New York Giants was Monday’s top cable program with 12.361 million viewers.
