AEW has abandoned its attempts to trademark the term “AEW Shockwave,” following a dispute with NWA.
NWA World Television Champion Bryan Idol recently claimed that AEW’s introduction of the new National Championship stemmed from an ongoing trademark dispute between both companies over the term ‘Shockwave.’
NWA had filed a formal opposition to AEW applying to trademark ‘Shockwave,’ stating that they have been using the name since as early as December 2020. NWA had also sent a legal letter to AEW last year, demanding that the company abandon the trademark application.
Now, in a latest development, Wrestlenomics is reporting that AEW has voluntarily abandoned the trademark. The report states:
“AEW filed for abandonment a week-and-a-half ago on Nov. 13. Because AEW withdrew the application without the NWA’s direct written consent, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board entered judgment, which is standard procedure. The board entered a judgment on Nov. 17 “with prejudice,” meaning AEW can’t pursue the trademark again in the future, effectively closing the case.”
The current status of the trademark application on the USPTO website reads:
“Abandoned after an inter partes decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.”
AEW President Tony Khan Recently Spoke With NWA President Billy Corgan
AEW abandoning the trademark application coincides with Tony Khan’s recent comments about having a conversation with NWA’s Billy Corgan. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Khan revealed that he was probably not going to do ‘AEW Shockwave’ anymore after having a phone call with Corgan,
“I’m probably not going to do it,” Tony Khan admitted. “I had a really nice talk with Billy and Billy Corgan, who owns NWA. And I like Billy, and even before I became a wrestling promoter, I had met him. I think he’s just a great artist, and I like him.
“So when I talked to him on the phone, I said, if that’s a show that you might do again, because NWA had done a Shockwave — I guess Pride had done it before that, but then NWA had done a Shockwave, which I didn’t know at the time when we filed it. And then I talked to him and said, if that’s something you want to do and you did it first, then you can do that. That’s fine. And he said, Oh, that’s great. I appreciate that. So that was nice.”
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