Martha Hart files suit against WWE
 

HARTFORD, Conn., June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Martha Hart, the widow of the late Owen Hart, a professional wrestler who was killed in a May 1999 stunt orchestrated by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) today filed suit in the U.S. District Court here against WWE, Vince McMahon (current chairman and CEO) and Linda McMahon (CEO until 2009). The lawsuit alleges the WWE and the McMahons used Owen Hart's name and likeness without right in dozens of commercial videos and other materials, violated a contract restricting the use of Owen Hart's name, likeness and wrestling footage, and disregarded Martha Hart's wishes against further association of her late husband's name with WWE following his death. (Mrs. Hart and WWE settled a wrongful death lawsuit in 2000. Mrs. Hart established the Owen Hart Foundation later that year.)

"In the eleven years since Owen's tragic and avoidable death, I have worked tirelessly to disassociate Owen's name and likeness from anything related to WWE in order to protect our children from any reminder of the circumstances surrounding their father's death, and to avoid any misplaced perception that I endorse WWE," said Martha Hart in a statement.

"Unfortunately, even though WWE, Vince McMahon and Linda McMahon were and are well aware of my wishes and desire to shield my children from WWE and its activities, I was shocked to learn earlier this year that they have been using Owen's name and likeness in videos, websites, television programs and print materials. Given this callous, insensitive and irresponsible behavior, one must question the moral character of Vince and Linda McMahon and the manner in which they conduct their business."

According to the lawsuit filed today before the U.S. District Court in Hartford,

"Since Owen's death, the WWE and McMahons have sought every available opportunity to further exploit Owen's personality for their own commercial benefit. Their use of Owen's name and likeness draws attention to the WWE's ongoing violent and highly questionable theatrical activities that caused Owen's death. Defendants' use of Owen's name and likeness is also in direct disregard of Martha's and her children's objections...The WWE's wrongful use of Owen's name and likeness, over Martha's continuing objection to any association with defendants and in the absence of any legal right of use, creates the wrongful impression that Martha and the Estate now support, approve or condone the video (which they do not)."

The lawsuit seeks to enjoin the WWE from further use of Owen Hart's name and likeness, and seeks unpaid royalties as well as damages for breach of contract, copyright infringement, unjust enrichment, accounting and unfair and deceptive trade practices.

Mrs. Hart is represented by the law firm Nixon Peabody LLP.

Note to Editors: A copy of the complaint can be found at www.marthahartsueswwe.com

Information on the Owen Hart Foundation can be found at www.owenhart.org

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Just his face on a t-shirt and look what happens.<!-- UFdJIENvbnRlbnQgU291cmNlOiBKUm9jazJLIEAgSVAgQWRkcmVzczogNzUuOTkuMTMxLjI1MA== -->

Holy Shit

They haven't sold anything specifically based on his likeness, to my knowledge. There haven't been any DVDs, toys or apparel that are solely Owen Hart.

They probably have featured pictures with him in it on the site or in magazines, and I know there have been matches he was part of on DVDs released the focus on other wrestlers or events, but I don't think that's the same thing. The WWE lawyers probably have a way around this in the agreement. If not they'll probably just settle.

he loved wrestling. love it or not martha the people have a right to love him for what he was...a wrestler

It's going to get ugly when Martha Hart logs on and sees these posts

well you have the Hart Dynasty and Bret Hart in the WWE so its no surprise that Owen's name will be mentioned

She just needs to use "The Benoit Defense", in which they were clearly able to wipe him from any and all material.

"Since Owen's death, the WWE and McMahons have sought every available opportunity to further exploit Owen's personality for their own commercial benefit."

Have I just been watching something else for the past 11 years or what?

His brother just HAD to pay tribute to him. Way to go, Bret. You have no right to be proud of your family.

His cage match with Bret is on the History of the WWE Championship DVD, which I own. I believe there's plenty of footage and matches with him on the Bret and Stone Cold DVDs too, not to mention others I'm sure.
He's definitely on all of the Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, and Summerslam DVDs that he was on the card for.

Clearly, we must blur out Owen from any and all future Royal Rumble releases.

This is going to hurt Linda's campaign.

Did WWE and Martha have a legal agreement to not use Owen? Cause if not I don't see this holding up/

she's just finding this out now?

lol at the domain name "marthahartsueswwe.com".

Surely if they did have an agreement, it would be unrealistic to think that they would take him out of PPV DVDs on cards that he was apart of?

And given that's exactly what the suit is about, people loving Owen Hart, that is a completely topic and astute point.

How dare this evil bitch selfishly sue WWE to prevent fans from loving and remembering Owen Hart! The nerve of some people!

what about the fact that Bret has mentioned Owen on tv since he's been back and also wore a t shirt with he and owen's face on it...(Which owned btw)

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/uploads/2/owenbret.jpg

The only instance I can think of except from the DVD would be the t-shirt Bret had on one of the weeks he was back on Raw. Think it was a white 80's looking t shirt with him and owen on it.

Is she really spitting the dummy out that much because her brother in law wore a t-shirt, paying tribute to his own brother?

Shes a numpty.

Snap. Thats the shirt I was on about.

Its a cracker as well.

Now we know Owen probably never will be in the HOF, cos she'd probably go off the head at that too and start sue-ing people left right n centre.

Martha is going to have to accept eventually that Owen was apart of one of the biggest prowrestling families ever. She seems like she's just being rather petty at this point.

How much money did she win from the court case involving Owens death?

*I'm just assuming that someone might know*

Somehow, I doubt it, unless they're really hell-bent on duking it out this time. I have a feeling this matter will be resolved quickly and quietly.

She should join Punk's stable.

I'm a fan of the Hart family...but come on. I understand how much of a loss she suffered due to the accident, but WWE has in no way tried to profit from Owen's death.

Not directly, but indirectly, technically they have.

To be fair, WWE will sue the fuck out of the Dudleyz if they ever wrestle in glasses outside their promotion. WWE polices their own trademarks and copyrights so aggressively they should more or less expect the same in kind.

And she certainly looks to be legally in the right here.

She does have a case, I'm curious to the fallout from the earlier case.

Prolly gonna have to agree with Kane Knight for once. They aren't complying to what she asked for... it may seem ridiculous, but I have a hard time sympathizing with a company like the WWE when technically Martha Hart is in the right.

And to call her pety is sort of ridiculous, like... come on, pretty sure I'd be a little bitter and upset in her position even if it was 11 years ago.

Likewise, I don't remember the details.

worked-shoot

She's going to win another nice settlement.

:y:

Holy shit, she got $19,000,000 and a book taken out of print? What the hell was in that book that was so slanderous and libelous?

I will always remember Owen, no matter what.

My understanding is that unless there was a legally binding agreement made (possibly as part of the settlement) restricting WWE from using any footage of Owen, Martha has no legal right to stop them doing so. When you sign a WWE contract, they own everything you do within the promotion that is committed to tape. Yes, they are obliged to pay the performer (or their next of kin) for the usage but the only way Martha can successfully sue the company is if they did legally agree not to do it.

Otherwise they can market their tape library however they want to.

And I've never seen them market any commercial product on the basis of an Owen Hart appearance. Of course he was on the front cover of The Hart Family DVD but it wasn't marketed as "Hart & Soul starring Owen Hart", more as the story of the whole Hart family, and it is a fact that Owen was a member of that family, not some marketing ploy. Regardless of the circumstances of Owen's death, more people would have been interested in that DVD due to Bret or the collective whole than specifically Owen.

If it is simply a case that WWE refrained from releasing footage focusing on Owen for the last 11 years out of sensitivity (hmm) and politeness (hmm), then Martha can't throw a fit when they decide to exercise their legal right to do so. If, on the other hand, they have broken a legally binding agreement, then good luck to her.

She seems a bit lawsuit happy, but then again you can't discount the fact that she unneccessarily lost her husband in his mid 30s and the pain that caused. She has a right to be bitter and even hate the business. But most people agree that Owen loved the business - at least the in-ring side of it - and took such pride in his work that at several times he was considered one of the greatest in the world. It's a shame if the world never got to see his hard work, skill and talent ever again - it would completely devalue the time he spent devoted to performing and the life that ultimately lead to his demise... almost as if, outside Martha's little bubble, Owen Hart never existed.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/image...192240704_.gif Rubberneckin the the White Trash Train Wreck that is the Hart Family, part 1, <nobr>February 23, 2010</nobr>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">By </td><td>Fritz Gerlich "Bright Moments..."http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/image...192251235_.gif (admin@audioetc.info) - See all my reviews</td></tr></tbody></table>
This review is from: Under the Mat: Inside Wrestling's Greatest Family (Hardcover)
Apparently this book pissed off Martha Hart enough that she sued to have it removed from store shelves because she didn't like the way that she and Owen (her husband) were portrayed. But really, they are the only ones who come off looking normal, not perfect, but normal. Everyone else is a disgusting mess.

Here are some of the things you'll get to read about:

1) Flesh Eating Disease
2) Rape and Sodomy
3) F.A.S. Babies
4) Incest
5) Wife Abuse
6) Child Abuse
7) Murder
8) Some guy having the bottom of his feet burned with a blowtorch & having his ears cut off
9) Date rape drugs
10) a 37 year old substitute teacher having sex and latter marrying a junior school student
11) gang bangs initiated by the student in #10
12) 55 year old, 250 pound skank servicing 18 wrestlers in a van
13) Yelling, screaming, and more yelling
14) crazy old dude who's great joy in life is making people (including children) scream/vomit/lose bowel control/lose consciousness because they are in so much pain from whatever bizarre submission hold the crazy old dude has them in
15) a father who has his daughters legs smashed with a hammer so he can collect more in a car crash insurance claim
16) Psychopaths and sociopaths and narcissists
17) a pickled mom who constantly tells her children she is going to kill herself
18) Moms who live with roid raging violent sadists despite having children in the house
19) Drugs (cocaine (crack and powdered), steroids, horse tranquilizers, morphine, uppers, downers, GBH, dozens of pain killers, booze, marijuana, hash, ecstasy, antidepresants, etc etc)
20) untreated schizophrenia
21) untreated kidney disease leading to death
22) moms who become hookers and IV drug users
23) animal abuse
24) woman eaten by 'wrastlin' grizzly bear who lived in their yard
25) crazed vicious psycho dog
26) house filled with 18 cats and cat piss
27) house that never gets cleaned
28) child porn

And that list is just off the top of my head.

And I really don't blame Martha for not wanting to have anything to do with these losers.

that too

it's all about the monayyyy

:y:

Its like when WWF had to change to WWE and blur footage. If they violate a contract, they need to pay.

martha needs to stop, owen needs to be in the hall of fame

linda needs to hang up her political hopes and dreams. nobody cares about the mcmahons unless its wrestling, and i think both her and vince need to understand that. just look at the XFL.

Linda might get the nod for the nomination, but she won't beat Blumenthal

Diana Hart (I think she wrote this) is a noted sociopathic liar and a down dirty whoore.

I had never heard of the book until this thread, so I figured it was "questionable". Especially with a damn $19 million payout.

As much as I love Owen, his wife is a stupid bitch..... her kids should see that their father was one of the absolute best at what he did, and how their family and their father have contributed to the wrestling industry in such a meaningful and lasting way....

<font color=goldenrod>Yeah, just erase his life's work. I'm sure that's exactly what Owen would have wanted. :y:

She's really being nothing more than a money-hungry bitch.</font>

I can't wait for Kane Knight to come in here and all us a bunch of butthurt entitled wrestling fans.

Yeah, I understand her being angry about it, but the main article states that she wants to protect her children and prevent them from knowing about the circumstances of their fathers death, which like some of you have said, pretty much means pretending his career/ life never happened.

That would be an interesting conversation wouldn't it?

"Mom, what did dad used to do for work?"

"Nothing"

"How did he die?"

"Ummm...he fell"



Given that all it takes is the typing of 'Owen Hart into Google or youtube to see his matches, or read about his life and death, what shes trying to so seems pretty pointless, and is just preventing a high quality Owen documentary DVD set and a Hall of Fame induction that he so much deserves.

This pretty much sums up how I feel...WWE never really went out of their way to point out anything relating to Owen Hart unless it was really necessary (Like part of the Hart & Soul DVD, Bret's DVD) I mean, give me a break.

I find it weird that you guys sympathize at all with the WWE lol. god.

I'm just going to stop you there and point out your understanding is wrong.

Stockholm Syndrome.

Or possibly Smarkolm Syndrome.

Make no mistake - I guarentee you it's because of the political ambitions of Linda. These things happen during every election campaign.

Regardless, even if it falls flat in court, the publicity is enough to damage her campagin, and it will possibly be exploited in commercials by groups that oppose Linda.

Tell me that's a joke. American voters in CT will easily be swayed by such an event that paints Linda and her WWE background as monsters.

At the end of the day, politics in America is politics. And your opponent and their supporters will dig up such stuff and exploit any matter like that. It's how things work, and the timing of this is no coincidence whatsoever.

Any bad publicity like this is good. You can't just reduce things to being that simple.

Martha's just pissed she wasn't allowed into CM Punks stable.

Martha wants the money she knows WWE is trying to keep a low profile with the campaign so she is filing this lawsuit.

lol if u don't think the WWE has a strong element of evil in it, you're fucking retarded.

Oh yeah? And why? Owen Hart, when he was alive, chose to sign a WWF talent contract to earn his living. Rightly or wrongly, the standard WWF/E contract says that any creative undertaking as part of WWE programming is owned by the company to do what they will with it. You sign, they own. And Owen would have been aware of this upon signing, and still elected to do so.

Whether a guy is dead or alive doesn't change that fact.

I always thought that as part of the settlement Martha got, WWE agreed not to use Owen's likeness for profit...?

Me too... Her case seems to be strong... But I am no lawyer...

Do mentions in passing really count that much, and Bret himself had a hand in making his own DVD...so he's not even allowed to mention his own brother?

To me, that's bullshit. I think Owen should be recognized for his work.

Maybe Vince and Martha will reconcile if he lets her come back to guest host :shifty:

As sad and tragic as Owen's passing was, I think it's also quite sad that it's now 11 years later and Martha Hart is still holding onto all this resentment toward Vince McMahon and the WWE. Resentment isn't healthy, at all, and for her own good and for the good of her children she needs to let go of it. Doesn't she know that's what Owen would want from her? To forgive and move on, and let his fans celebrate his accomplishments? I think that's what Owen would want.

Assuming it's picked up by anyone who gives a shit. That's what BDC was on about. nobody cares. This will make some B-roll news, but worse stuff can be dug up on Linda and is barely being touched because nobody cares.

BDC may be an inbred, Amish hick with a fat fetish, but he's also correct.

Hmmm....You raise a good point. Except if that was true, they wouldn't need tademarks at all. They wouldn't need to license with other individuals, like former wrestlers for their likenesses in games and on media.

Why, they'd still be able to call it WWF on tape if your argument was correct. No blurs on corners because LOL THERE ON CAMERA.

Except copyright and trademark don't work that way. Now, someone like Chris Jericho has signed his ring name over to WWE. He's a willing party in the trademark claim on his name, so it's kosher. He can't wrestle anywhere else under that name without their okay, and they can use his name freely. Likenesses are a little different, and a person's identity is even harder to deal with. This is why so many guys enter under pseudonyms, even if those names are similar to their own and such, why guys like Warrior changed their names to be able to continue to use them.

Contracts have gotten way stricter since Owen's days, which include things like no-compete clauses. There's only been a trademark on Jericho's name since 2005, which should tell you how different a ballgame it is now. But a person's own identity and likeness don't go away because of a contract with WWE. Or being on film.

A kind of flip side example was the suit over Hall and Nash in WCW. WWF sued over the implication that they were affiliated with WWF and their WWF counterparts.

But that's an entirely different scenario altogether. WWE owns their own tape library and don't need to sign guys up for Legends contracts or anything of the like to re-release items from their own back catalogue. They sign people up to use their likeness for new materials such as action figures, video games etc.

But WWE has been re-releasing all their old PPV anthologies on DVD over the last few years. Now they didn't need to sign up everybody who ever worked, say, a WrestleMania to a Legend contract did they? They can sign a guy to one of those merchandise deals if they want to exploit their name, image, likeness and personality for new purposes - be it documentaries with their involvement on new materials, Hall of Fame inductions, T-shirts, DVDs, figures, games etc. - but they don't need to sign anyone up simply to release old material that they already own outright.

Nicely put, but that woman believes that this is what Owen would want. Just like she believed in shielding her children from wrestling and refusing to let them see many family members, just because of her hate toward wrestling.

Anyway, I'm not surprised. I forgot were I heard the small rumor from like last year or the year before that. But I guess his son got of his leash and got a small taste of reality when it came to his father and what he means to the fans. Since it's more or less said she's demonised us all. And well this year with him turning 18, she's really got her back to the wall on how much more she can shield him. I guess blackmail him with his sister.

To be fair, I don't even think they need to sign the guy to anything to release a new DVD like a documentary. Lets not forget the Warrior DVD.....

This leads me to believe that the agreement was not to use him to promote the company in any way, such as making a 'Best of Owen Hart' DVD, or putting him in as a legend in SVR games, making action figures etc.

But it seems like she wants more, she wants his matches removed from box sets, his name not to be mentioned in magazine articles, and to be erased from title histories and 'Top 20 superstar' lists etc from the website.

It seems like she wants him to have the Benoit treatment. Now most people argue that erasing Benoit from all the work he did over the years is wrong, and he killed to two people before taking his own life. To do that to Owen, who died from a tragic accident, is just plain wrong.

Which is why everything that was taped is the same. No ring blur, omitted words, or changed theme musics.

I know, I know, but "that's different."

WWE releases videos over no objection from other people and particular circumstances.

Now, that's different. You know, because of the scenario here. Since trademark and copyrigth are enforced over (among other things) market confusion, and Martha does not wish her husband's likeness or name to be implied as an endorsement of WWE, it's virtually identical to the case of Hall and Nash in a legal sense.

Tossing around "That's different" won't actually make it so, from the very real legal sense that will be brought up in court, not the layman perspective you're offering.

Anyway, you can argue what you want or what you think is right, but from a real legal sense she has a case.

Whether that sits with entitled fanboys or the folks trying to apply common sense to the law is another thing. Whether you like it or not....

Yeah I agree that she has a case, if that was the agreement. I also agree that she has a right to be bitter and angry. But I also think she has gone a little too far, and is now taking away from Owen's achievements in life, and what he dedicated his whole life towards. Which is just backwards logic IMO.

Nobody can take his achievements away from him. The idea that anyone could do that, be it Vince or Martha, is insane.

I didn't say taking away his achievements themselves, because yes, that would be insane. I said taking away from his achievements, by not allowing wrestling fans to see them in the form of a DVD set, or a book dedicated to him or something along those lines.

Even to his children, she's pretty much hiding it from them. They'll only find his matches and stuff on youtube, which is pretty sad considering how good he was.

Protecting her kids is probably the most logical thing she's done. Perhaps taken to an extreme, but you consider how young they were when their father died. You consider one's still fifteen, and it's still logical.

You don't get between a mama bear and her cubs.

Wrestling fans seem to have this idea that "Wrestling > life" and I don't quite get it.

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It obviously doesn't. But I think things have to be taken differently when you work in the public eye.

WWE are legally required to blur out the old WWF logo due to a legal decision made in a London court. As far as any of us officially knows, there is no such provision in place when it comes to using Owen Hart's name or likeness. If there is no injunction in place, they can use that footage as they see fit as per the contract Owen - much like every other WWF/WWE performer - signed.

Theme music simply comes down to licensing rights.

These are not the same thing. I did not say WWE has the right to do what they want with footage 'as broadcast'. I said they have the right to do what they want with performances captured on tape, and quite clearly that refers to the wrestlers and their wrestling matches. You're talking about peripherals such as theme music and logos to try and muddy my argument... well, it wasn't even an argument until you came along... when I'm not referring to anything of the sort.

I dunno some people on here at like a lot of the wrestlers owe the business something, when in fact, the business owes these wrestlers a lot more than they get. WWE treats thse guys like pieces of meat, fires them on a wim, and they don't get insurance cuz they are independant contractors. It's bullshit.

Mind you the wrestlers have a choice, but I'm sorry, they owe NOTHING to the WWE. Without the wrestlers, the WWE is shit. Hell, with the wrestlers the WWE is shit, but imagine what it would be without all these great athletes.

TNA?

Because they were doing so in violation of the law. Are you fucking retarded?

That's it. That's all there is. The reason courts had to rule wasn't that this was some strange, unprecedented grounds but because WWE continued to operate in violation of the law.

If I use Hulk Hogan's name, or John Cena's name to imply their support of my promotion, I'm violating the law even before the court orders me to stop. I'm also violating the law even if I manage to fly below the radar.

As such, I have to reiterate:

Are you fucking retarded?

Theme music, by the way, does come down to licensing rights. Under the same laws of copyright being challenged here. Funny how that works.

Selectively applying copyright and trademark law is great to justify fan entitlement, or what one wants, but it doesn't make anything more true.

"Read on line about the Martha Hart lawsuit vs WWE. I am not a lawyer, have never played one on TV, and know zilch about this untimely legal matter. Nonetheless my personal opinion is that the timing of this legal posturing is questionable specifically as it relates to Connecticut politics. Plus, I have never recalled WWE ever doing any thing but honoring Owen’s legacy and certainly not ‘exploiting’ it in a negative light." -Jim Ross

At least he doesn't speculate on the legal elements.

Yes, yes, we get it though. It's a conspiracy.

"update"

The Vancouver Sun has a piece on Martha Hart's lawsuit against the WWE and Vince and Linda McMahon up available here. Some of the highlights are below:

- WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt stated in regards to Martha's claim that the company agreed to no longer use Owen Hart's name and likeness, "We own the copyright (to footage featuring Owen Hart) and we believe we're fully within our rights under the contract to do exactly what we did." The article stated that McDevitt "insists that there is no provision in the 2000 settlement agreement" that would have led to WWE giving up its rights to the footage.

- McDevitt stated that several months back, Hart filed an injunction to try and prevent the Canadian release of the Hart & Soul documentary and DVD set. Ontario courts denied the injunction. Yesterday McDevitt stated the company had not heard from Martha since 2000.

- Owen's brother Ross Hart commented on the lawsuit by saying, "If (WWE) exploited (Owen's) name negatively...I can understand, but this really was a documentary about the whole family. It was done in pretty good taste, even by WWE standards." He also stated that "Wrestling is really what made Owen famous and successful and such a legend and you can't erase that," Ross said. "As tragic and wrongful as his death was, you can't erase his legacy and what he accomplished in wrestling."

Should have been, "especially by WWE standards."

Do WWE wrestlers get any $$ from there DVD set sales anyways?