Cease and Desist

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm surprised that there hasn't been any discussion on here about the story involving the Young Bucks, the "Too Sweet" hand gesture and WWE that's been making the rounds for the past several weeks.

Anyhow, the gist of it is that the Young Bucks put out a t-shirt that featured the "Too Sweet" hand gesture used by the nWo, though originally used by Sean Waltman according to Kevin Nash, and WWE sent them a cease and desist letter to stop using the gesture on merchandise as it's WWE's intellectual property. The Bucks stopped printing the shirts but immediately came out with another one showing the words "Cease and Desist" in bold writing across the front, the Bucks standing on either side of the C & D printing, making the hand gesture with a black censored bar over their hands obscuring the gesture.

I've read a lot of different responses over the weeks and I see both sides of things to some degree. For WWE, it does come off as extremely petty that they'd go this route over something like a friggin' hand gesture. At the same time, IF they do own the gesture, which I don't know how as I don't know the details of copyright law, then I guess they're technically within their rights. WWE's been in this situation before as they received a C and D letter from Pabst Blue Ribbon over a John Cena t-shirt design a few years back as the design, the lettering, etc. was identical to that of PBR.

While I do agree with the opinion that it's petty on WWE's part, I also find myself not having a ton of sympathy for the Young Bucks since virtually everything about them has been "borrowed" from someone or something else. I know that using bits and pieces of past wrestlers to help make up a gimmick is common place, but not to the extraordinary degree of the Bucks. If they aren't copying the nWo, it's the Hardy Boyz, if it's not the Hardy Boyz, it's DX, if it's not DX, then it's Shawn Michaels. The Bucks also received a C and D letter from the creators of Rick and Morty due to a Bucks t-shirt being a rip off of the characters.

In the end, the Bucks have been the ones laughing all the way to the bank as the Cease and Desist shirt is said to be their most successful thus far. Factor this in with the Bullet Club's "Invasion" of Raw weeks back, which is said to have been the reason for the firing of popular WWE creative member Jimmy Jacobs due to Jacobs taking a selfie with the group outside the arena, and what you have are a couple of guys who really seem to get under Vince's skin and make him seem like some cantankerous old bastard.

 

[Alex]

This reminds me of the story of the 'This Is Not A Fugazi T-shirt' Fugazi were a punk band who didn't sell merch so bootleggers made loads of money from it. The singer talked to one bootlegger who wanted to make a deal but the singer said no. The bootlegger ended up doing the 'This Is Not A Fugazi Tshirt' instead. The singer thought it was funny and got the bootlegger to give what would have been the bands cut to charity

The irony of WWE sending a cease and desist as well as firing Jimmy Jacobs for the selfie is they've been giving more exposure to Bullet Club, The Young Bucks and the promotions associated with them. Its free advertising and on top of the weird/bad booking WWE have been doing lately it might convince people to see what these other promotions do.

The Young Bucks are smart. They know what's popular and they capitalize one it. They did a Rick and Morty shirt because Rick and Morty are popular and people would buy stuff that looks like it. They did the Cease and Desist shirt because they knew people would talk about it and it would get people talking and it clearly has because here we are talking about a t-shirt

 

[d_henderson1810]

Would it kill the Young Bucks to at least give credit to who they "took" the idea off?

They must like that thing from someone else, so much so that they "borrow" it, so why not have something, even at the bottom of the shirt, giving acknowledgement to those who were the originators of it, so that they get promoted as well?

The whole reason people get upset when someone uses something they created, and enforce copyright, is that the people doing it second often takes credit for it, like they came up with it themselves, rather than use the idea, while giving credit to those who used it first.

By not acknowledging the originators, they are taking away money that those people could have got. By sharing it, and giving credit, both parties can make something off it, whereas what the Bucks do, means that those with the original idea lose out on profitting off their original idea.

Take the creators of "Rick and Morty". The Bucks should have had somewhere on the shirt, that that is where they got the idea, so that fans who buy the shirt and like the idea know where it came from, and possibly by a "R & M" t-shirt as well. By Bucks' taking credit, people think they came up with it themselves, and the creators of R & M miss out.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Here's the deal. I didn't know about the merch of the Young Bucks before the cease and desist order. I do know. And the shirt looks awesome. Young Bucks win and WWE should care less about the merch and about a hand gesture. But they don't. They just made the Young Bucks richer. Just like they've been making the Club richer ever since Gallows and Anderson joined the WWE and ever since Finn has been using the "Balor Club" motto.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Cease and Desist has late 80's tag team name written all over it. A couple of copyright attorneys by day, put on some face paint at night and beat up the bad guys who are stealing "their moves" in the ring. How could you have cheated me out of this in my childhood Vince?!?!

WWE's response in all this is reasonable. Sounds like the not really that Young anymore Bucks have done a nice job taking advantage of it.

Cease: "We're filing a motion!"

Deaist: "On your ass suckers!"

This stuff writes itself.

 

[Navi]

I've been so busy lately I didn't even know about this until it was brought up here. The WWE should just have left it alone because the fuss they've made about it has brought all the attention.

Vince McMahon is more like Donald Trump than anyone realizes I think. If the Young Bucks make more money off it then they can thank Vince. Silly stuff.

 

[JoeMallard]

Would it kill the Young Bucks to at least give credit to who they "took" the idea off?

They must like that thing from someone else, so much so that they "borrow" it, so why not have something, even at the bottom of the shirt, giving acknowledgement to those who were the originators of it, so that they get promoted as well?

The whole reason people get upset when someone uses something they created, and enforce copyright, is that the people doing it second often takes credit for it, like they came up with it themselves, rather than use the idea, while giving credit to those who used it first.

By not acknowledging the originators, they are taking away money that those people could have got. By sharing it, and giving credit, both parties can make something off it, whereas what the Bucks do, means that those with the original idea lose out on profitting off their original idea.

Take the creators of "Rick and Morty". The Bucks should have had somewhere on the shirt, that that is where they got the idea, so that fans who buy the shirt and like the idea know where it came from, and possibly by a "R & M" t-shirt as well. By Bucks' taking credit, people think they came up with it themselves, and the creators of R & M miss out.

The core NWO members gave them their blessing years ago..... In fact, Scott Hall's son used to be apart of the group.

 

[BIFFtheJEW]

Hello Everyone,

The WWE had full rights to do what they did but I think the Young Bucks turned it and its brilliant. They could turn that into a gimmick and it would probably be huge. They could look into getting a tag finish called the "Cease and Desist".

They did something and WWE said "Stop it" and they said "Ok but......" and its brilliant.

 

[Alex]

Would it kill the Young Bucks to at least give credit to who they "took" the idea off?

They must like that thing from someone else, so much so that they "borrow" it, so why not have something, even at the bottom of the shirt, giving acknowledgement to those who were the originators of it, so that they get promoted as well?

The whole reason people get upset when someone uses something they created, and enforce copyright, is that the people doing it second often takes credit for it, like they came up with it themselves, rather than use the idea, while giving credit to those who used it first.

By not acknowledging the originators, they are taking away money that those people could have got. By sharing it, and giving credit, both parties can make something off it, whereas what the Bucks do, means that those with the original idea lose out on profitting off their original idea.

Take the creators of "Rick and Morty". The Bucks should have had somewhere on the shirt, that that is where they got the idea, so that fans who buy the shirt and like the idea know where it came from, and possibly by a "R & M" t-shirt as well. By Bucks' taking credit, people think they came up with it themselves, and the creators of R & M miss out.

People rip off other people all the time. Frank Zappa ripped off the Sgt Pepper album cover for 'We're Only In It For The Money', The Clash's London Calling ripped off Elvis Presley's debut. Heck WWE (and everyone else) were ripping off the Bullet Club t-shirt designs not long ago and they didn't give credit.

The irony is the more popular something is if someone rips it off people will know what they're ripping e.g. Frank Zappa and Sgt Pepper

There's a diffrence between ripping off and bootlegging and the Young Bucks are ripping off. If it was bootlegging it would be one thing but it's not

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

If WWE owns the Too Sweet hand gesture, why wouldn't they enforce their copyrights, especially as a publicly traded company? Remember, this is a public company and not a family held business anymore. Everything that is done is for profit and to appease the board. The simplest scenario here is "take legal action, offer a license deal, profit of the Young Bucks." Should they do that in a "who are they really hurting" scenario is a different question. Despite this, I think they still try to operate as a "Vince owns it all" organization and something like this is more of a "I don't care if you're making money from this, but I do care if you are using something that is our content."

Then of course we have the whole issue of North Carolina State actually owning the hand gesture. I don't know too much about this situation.

If WWE doesn't actually own the trademark/copyright of the hand gesture, then the Bucks can just ignore the C&D, at least as it relates to WWE (unless WWE has a licensing deal for it).

 

[Hartbreakkid]

From what I've read, WWE registered the trademark for "Too Sweet" & the hand gesture in 2015. By that point, the Bucks & Bullet Club had already been using it for a few years (in fact, they probably grabbed it because of Gallows, Anderson, Balor & AJ).
Legally, WWE would lose if the Bucks decided to take it to court, but due to the amount of money it would cost them in legal costs, it isn't practical for them to fight against the corporate machine.

 

[BaconBits]

They haven’t actually produced said C & D. For all we know, they could just be saying they got one as an attempt to even further make money off WWE’s back.

 

[sikkbones]

If WWE owns the Too Sweet hand gesture, why wouldn't they enforce their copyrights, especially as a publicly traded company? Remember, this is a public company and not a family held business anymore. Everything that is done is for profit and to appease the board. The simplest scenario here is "take legal action, offer a license deal, profit of the Young Bucks." Should they do that in a "who are they really hurting" scenario is a different question. Despite this, I think they still try to operate as a "Vince owns it all" organization and something like this is more of a "I don't care if you're making money from this, but I do care if you are using something that is our content."

Then of course we have the whole issue of North Carolina State actually owning the hand gesture. I don't know too much about this situation.

If WWE doesn't actually own the trademark/copyright of the hand gesture, then the Bucks can just ignore the C&D, at least as it relates to WWE (unless WWE has a licensing deal for it).

I'm thinking they may ownnthe associated rights for the image on merchandising itself...

As it originated in Wcw I'm thinking it may have been trademarked there... With at least one T-shirt featuring it..

And Vince did get all or most of those trademarks from Turner no?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's easy to slate WWE here, but it's nothing compared to how Disney operate... a Daycare paints Disney characters on its walls? Uh-uh...Disney send a C&D and or sue them... it's a very real situation.

WWE is at least limiting this to someone IN the business, who IS working for competitors... the Bucks are not poor indy guys who are getting ragged on by "the man"... they're in the top level of the non-WWE talent, using something WWE rightly or wrongly owns against them... WWE would be negligent not to do something.