Reason Why Anthem Is Pursuing Legal Action Against Matt Hardy Revealed

As noted, Anthem sent a cease and desist out to pay-per-view providers in order to prevent Matt Hardy from using the "Broken" character on the ROH 15th Anniversary pay-per-view. While this mandate apparently worked for the show, Matt continued to stay in gimmick during the promo following the tag team match, as well as Twitter. As widely publicized, Reby Hardy has been very vocal on exposing the reason behind the broken relationship between the Hardys and Anthem/Impact Wrestling.

Now, there has been new information released on why Anthem made the decision to pursue legal matters. Outside of reports stating that Anthem felt that the gimmick is their intellectual property, PWInsider revealed that the primary reason that sparked the Anthem decision was Matt filing the trademark for the "Broken" character.

While he popularized it and made it one of the most fascinating characters of the past year, the loophole that Anthem is trying to present is that Matt was not the only person involved in the backstage creative process, even if the majority were his ideas. Therefore, according to Anthem's viewpoint, he should not receive full revenue for the profit that comes with the character.

Of course, there has not been anything settled as of yet, and both parties are standing firm in their views, based on the Twitter posts of Reby. It will continue to be a tug-of-war until one or both entities are willing to make a compromising resolution.