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An update on the lawsuit Jeff Jarrett and his company Global Force Entertainment filed against Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment earlier this month:
On Friday 8/24, Jarrett's side filed a motion with the United States District Court of Tennessee regarding the Global Force Wrestling master copies, requesting an expedited discovery where each side gets to request information of the other side through request for answers to interrogatories, request for documents, etc.) regarding the masters while also requesting ruling requiring Anthem to allow them access to the masters so they can be copied as Jarrett's side has filed a copyright on each hour of the 16 hours worth of footage.
The 8/10 motion explains, "Both the request for expedited determination and expedited relief are necessitated by a Copyright Office imposed deadline of September 8, 2018, to submit copies of the episodes to the Copyright Office."
So, basically, copies of the tapes are needed in order for GFE to file their copyrights on the Amped! content. Given that a big part of this lawsuit against Anthem consists of allegations that GFE and Jarrett's copyrights have been violated because Anthem used that content on PPV, streaming services and on DVD without paying for it, proving that Jarrett's sides actually own the copyrights would appear to give a big boost to their legal standing in the case.
The GFW masters were originally filmed as a potential TV series titled GFW Amped! which never found a broadcast home. The footage was re-purposed as PPV content by Anthem during their ill-fated relationship with Jarrett, which included an announced merger between Impact and GFW that was never completed after Jarrett was released by the company in the wake of personal issues. Despite that agreement never being seen through to completion,, Impact went forward with using the GFW content and were selling it on DVD until Jarrett's lawsuit was filed.
The motion also notes that, as of 8/24, neither Anthem nor their attorneys have responded to a letter sent on 8/10 (the same day the Jarrett/GWE vs. Anthem lawsuit was filed) requesting they "voluntarily produce the masters of the episodes for inspection and copying", which is why they are now asking the court to intervene. GFE and Jarrett are requesting the court order Anthem to produce the master tapes and that they must do so within five calendar days of the court's order.
Court records do not indicate Anthem has been officially served with the lawsuit and there has been no response from Anthem filed before the court.
Impact Wrestling officials have not responded to PWInsider.com requests for comment on the issue.
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