Tommy Gilbert, the father of the late great “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert, claims that WWE is cashing in on Eddie, so the Gilbert family is suing WWE to get a cut of the action.
According to docs … Tommy Gilbert is in charge of the estate and Tommy says the WWE is plastering his son’s image and likeness all over TV and other media platforms without permission and more importantly, without paying the Gilbert family a dime.
Tommy says old wrestling footage of Eddie, a pro wrestler from 1979 until his death from a heart attack in 1995, is being used to promote the WWE.
The Gilbert family isn’t suing to block use of the footage, they just want a judge to force WWE to pay them a share of its profits, plus damages.
A WWE rep tells 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 substantial investments to acquire these copyrighted works and has the legal right to use them.”
The WWE rep adds – “Similar cases in the past have been unsuccessful, and we expect this case to be dismissed,”
Source: TMZ
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