A major liability when operating a production company is the misuse of intellectual property. These issues can range from infringing on the intellectual property of someone else, to having the intellectual property of the company infringed upon. When a company begins to license out its intellectual properties, it can lead to a multitude of other issues. As seen in the following example, the different rights also play an important role when a company acquires intellectual property from another, especially where there are already license agreements in place.
This case revolves around three appeals in a dispute involving a merchandise license agreement. The suit is between Marvel Enterprises, Inc. and World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, WCW, Inc. Marvel also appealed the grant of partial summary judgment to Old WCW on its third-party beneficiary claim. Lastly, Old WCW appealed the trial court partial denial of its motion for summary judgment on the remainder of claims brought …show more content…
To do this, WWE needed to secure a time slot for television programming from Viacom, Inc. who hosted all WWE programming. Because WWE was unable to secure a deal for programming of the proposed new WCW shows, they scrapped the concept altogether. The thought process of WWE was that without any WCW television show or live events, the basis of the licensing agreement with Marvel no longer existed (Barnes, 2005). During this time in early 2001, WWE had created a storyline where wrestlers from WCW would invade WWE programming. In the storyline, WCW wrestlers would appear on WWE programming wearing WCW apparel and being announced as being from WCW. The key here is that the WCW talent appeared on WWE programming rather than a WCW show, and that the WCW talent entered into new WWE contracts (Barnes,
This case revolves around three appeals in a dispute involving a merchandise license agreement. The suit is between Marvel Enterprises, Inc. and World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, WCW, Inc. Marvel also appealed the grant of partial summary judgment to Old WCW on its third-party beneficiary claim. Lastly, Old WCW appealed the trial court partial denial of its motion for summary judgment on the remainder of claims brought …show more content…
To do this, WWE needed to secure a time slot for television programming from Viacom, Inc. who hosted all WWE programming. Because WWE was unable to secure a deal for programming of the proposed new WCW shows, they scrapped the concept altogether. The thought process of WWE was that without any WCW television show or live events, the basis of the licensing agreement with Marvel no longer existed (Barnes, 2005). During this time in early 2001, WWE had created a storyline where wrestlers from WCW would invade WWE programming. In the storyline, WCW wrestlers would appear on WWE programming wearing WCW apparel and being announced as being from WCW. The key here is that the WCW talent appeared on WWE programming rather than a WCW show, and that the WCW talent entered into new WWE contracts (Barnes,