The family of the late Eddie "Hot Stuff" Gilbert is suing WWE for allegedly using his image without their permission and for failing to pay royalties.
Ringside News reported that Tommy Gilbert, Eddie's father, will be suing the organization for putting his son's image and likeness on television and other media platforms. The Gilbert family wants to have a share of the profits plus damages, instead of having the content removed.
WWE issued a statement through TMZ: "Through the years, WWE has acquired the legal rights to library footage of various former wrestling organizations including Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Mid-Southern Wrestling among many others. WWE has made these substantial investments to acquire these copyrighted works and has the legal right to use them. Similar cases in the past have been unsuccessful and we expect this case to be dismissed."
TMZ reported that Eddie Gilbert died 20 years ago but the WWE recently posted old wrestling footages of "Hot Stuff" for promotional means. Eddie was a professional wrestler from 1979 until 1995 when he died of a heart attack.
Eddie wrestled for the WWF from October 1982 to April 1984, according to CageSideSeats. He also wrestled for Jerry Jarrett's CWA/USWA promotion in Tennessee, Jim Crockett Promotions, the Universal Wrestling Federation of Bill Watts, WCW of Ted Turner and Eastern Championship Wrestling of Tod Gordon.
WWE is the owner of WCW, ECW, UWF and Mid South tape libraries, so several Eddie Gilbert matches are included in the WWE Network. Gilbert footages were involved in a number of WWE DVDs, including his fights against Jerry "The King" Lawler on the "It's Good To Be King: The Jerry Lawler Story" DVD, which will release in May 2015, CageSigeSeats explained.
Although WWE is willing to face the Gilbert family in court, the case may serve as a precedent for other WWE wrestlers to also file their claims in court for having their footage used by the WWE without compensation, based on a report by WrestleZone.
Recently, former wrestler Matt Hardy was asked whether he receives compensation whenever his content is included in the WWE Network.
Hardy answered, "NO-Our contracts specified royalties on PPV, DVD & merch, but no network language existed then. Seems like they should, right?"
Based on another CageSideSeats report, a clause appears in recent contracts, stating that WWE will not be paying royalties to talents for the subscription of video on demand services. The WWE seems to be on the advantage with the existence of the clause, although wrestlers may be more careful about signing contracts later on.