One day before the United States Patent And Trademark Office’s March 20, 2019 deadline, WWE has filed to oppose independent wrestler Tatevik Hunanyan’s ‘Sister Abigail’ trademark.
In June 2018, Hunanyan applied to trademark ‘Sister Abigail’ for use in professional wrestling after WWE abandoned its application to obtain the trademark.
On March 19, 2019, WWE officially contested Hunanyan’s attempt at securing the ‘Sister Abigail’ name claiming that Hunanyan did not create the ‘Sister Abigail’ character and has consequently attempted to “usurp” the intellectual property of WWE.
“[Hunanyan] was an extra for WWE in 2016 and 2017 and expressed a desire to portray the WWE SISTER ABIGAIL character in WWE programming,” attorneys for WWE wrote in their Notice Of Opposition. “[Hunanyan] never portrayed the WWE SISTER ABIGAIL character and is now attempting to usurp WWE’s intellectual property by filing the Sister Abigail Application.”
Moreover, WWE has claimed that given the fact that WWE’s ‘Sister Abigail’ intellectual property is exactly the same as Hunanyan’s trademark, and that WWE’s ‘Sister Abigail’ and Hunanyan’s version both reside within the same industry, the duplication would no doubt cause confusion to consumers.
“By applying for a mark that is identical in sight, sound and commercial meaning to Opposer’s SISTER ABIGAIL Mark in connection with identical services as those provided by Opposer,” counsel for WWE wrote, “Applicant’s applied-for mark in the Sister Abigail Application is likely to cause confusion among consumers as to Opposer’s affiliation and/or sponsorship of Applicant’s services.”
According to Hunanyan, she fully expected WWE to contest her trademark and seemed unfazed by WWE’s Notice Of Opposition.
“It’s another new beginning for us all,” Hunanyan explained. “The only difference between what is happening now versus what was happening then is I’m connecting my voice to my actions. I’m going to show everyone just how good and how real this story is. Why is this true? Because I showed up as a nobody, but remembered that I was somebody. And I’ll be damned if anyone ever tries to make me forget.”
Hunanyan went on to thank the fans that understand her perspective and have supported her in exercising her legal rights on the matter.
“Love has always been my number one motivating factor behind why I do what I do and as the old saying goes, ‘love makes us do crazy things,’ so let’s tell a great story in the way it was meant to be told. For better or worse, it was meant to be and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Hunanyan added, “I can’t imagine anyone not supporting that.”
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