WWE And 2K Games Sued For Copyright Infringement

WWE and its parent company, TKO Group Holdings, are defending a new lawsuit in Arkansas alongside 2K Sports, 2K Games and its parent, Take-Two Interactive, after an indie promoter alleged copyright infringement in The Bloodline's entrance sequence. 

The plaintiff, WCWA Wrestling's head Nathaniel Tatha-Nanandji described a copyrighted audiovisual sequence for the entrance of a faction in the complaint, referred to as "Tier 1 Audiovisual Sequence" in the filing with the Western District Court of Arkansas. 

It's said that a talent working for WCWA had asked for footage of their work with the promotion when they had started working on "WWE SmackDown" in 2019, creating an awareness of WCWA's set-up, and a WWE employee later attended the indie promotion, maintained contact with the plaintiff, and kept tabs on WCWA while the "Tier 1 Audiovisual Sequence" was publicly displayed through to 2021. 

"Through these direct and indirect channels, including internal scouting review and publicly accessible WCWA content on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, WWE and its affiliates had a reasonable opportunity to view, study, and copy the Tier 1 Audiovisual Sequence prior to and during Defendants' development and exploitation of substantially similar audiovisual content."

The complaint continues to say that around September 2021, WWE introduced a "visually and narratively similar ritualized audiovisual sequence for its Bloodline faction." 

It's said that after cross-referencing the "Tier 1 Audiovisual Sequence" with the "Bloodline Sequence" in January 2024, the plaintiff sent a formally written notice to WWE asserting the infringement. But the defendants continued to proceed with its use of the sequence in what is seen as a willful and reckless disregard of the defendants' rights.

The plaintiff is requesting a jury trial to determine the compensation award, if applicable, for the alleged infringement. 2K Sports and 2K Games are being sued for the use of the "Bloodline Sequence" in its WWE-licensed video games. A summons has been issued to the defendants, but at the time of writing, there has been no response.