The Latest On Ric Flair's Lawsuit
The Associated Press picked up the lawsuit filed by Ric Flair this afternoon:
Nature Boy' Wrestler Ric Flair Sues South Carolina Car Dealership Over Ads
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Professional wrestler Ric Flair is suing a Columbia dealership for imitating the "Nature Boy" and his well-known slogans to sell cars, federal court documents show.
The world champion wrestler — whose real name is Richard Fliehr — contends that Freedom Suzuki wrongfully used his name, slogans, likeness and personality in radio and TV ads featuring a blond-haired Captain Freedom shouting and "To be the man, you got to beat the man!"
The "Whoeee" sounds like the "Wooo!" Flair has shouted into microphones in and outside the ring for decades, his lawyer Eric Bland said Monday.
Though not trademarked, the slogans have become synonymous with Flair, or "Nature Boy," who has wrestled full-time since 1972, Bland said.
World Wrestling Entertainment's Web site biography on the 6-foot-1, 243-pound wrestler says that Flair "made his name on wrestling hour-long marathon matches, his cocky interview style and his knack for shouting 'Woooooo!' into microphones."
A lawyer for the dealership, Timothy St. Clair, said Monday that he had not yet reviewed the complaint and declined to comment until he'd done so.
The federal lawsuit, filed last week, seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages, including any profits the dealership made in car sales from the ads. The minimum would be $75,000, the amount required for an out-of-state resident to file in federal court.
The suit also asks the court to stop Freedom Suzuki and its parent company, Stivers Automative, from using the promotion again and to require the dealership to run a new ad for 90 days telling the public that it improperly used Flair's image.
Flair, 58, of Charlotte, N.C., is nearing the end of his wrestling career. To capitalize on his image after retirement, he must protect it, Bland said.
"It's real important for someone who has a brand like Ric Flair to protect it and not permit its use without compensation, or the brand gets diluted. He's cultivated that brand through blood, sweat and tears," Bland said.
The dealership contacted World Wrestling Entertainment about using Flair in commercials but never agreed to a fee or signed a contract, Bland said. Flair was shocked to hear the ad after he turned on his radio while driving home to Charlotte from a WWE event in Columbia, he said.
"Whoeee. To be the man you got to beat the man. Ric Flair was right all you other car dealers out there," says a character in the ad who calls himself Captain Freedom, according to an ad transcript filed with the court.
The lawsuit calls Captain Freedom a "confusingly similar likeness" to Flair's WWE persona.
The ad ends with the character saying, "Come check out me and the WWE at the Colonial Center Aug. 21. Whoeee!"
The Freedom Suzuki ads ran in August. Bland said he was unsure how many times the TV and radio ads were broadcast.
Flair usually gets between $10,000 and $25,000 for each appearance, Bland said.