33) TITAN SPORTS v.
TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEMS Hall and Nash contracted to wrestle with WCW due to WCW’s promise of lucrative,
FACTS:
Plaintiff Titan Sports Inc. is a corporation which promotes live, and on cable,
syndicated, and pay-per-view television, professional wrestling under its registered
service mark “World Wrestling Federation” (WWF).
Defendants TBS owns and operates several cable networks, including Turner
Network Television.
WCW is a corporation and majority owned subsidiary of TBS, competes directly with
WWF in televising professional wrestling, associated merchandising, and licensing
programs.
Plaintiff Titan Sports contends that success in the professional wrestling business
depends upon the development of interesting wrestling characters and story lines 
characters must have names, personalities, histories, relationships, personas, and
visual appearances that appeal to consumers
Plaintiff Titan Sports alleges that WWF programming combines character-driven story
lines with skillful wrestling while WCW has no reputation for creativity.
Defendant TBS proposed interpromotional matches in order to associate WCW with
WWF, but this was rejected by plaintiff Titan Sports.
Scott Hall (wrestler) after wrestling unsuccessfully with WCW, contracted to wrestle
for plaintiff Titan Sports  a wrestling character was created for Hall called “Razor
Ramon” alias “The Bad Guy”:
 had distinctive Hispanic accent
 slicked black hair in ponytail with curl in the front
 toothpick in his mouth
 wears vest and multiple chains around his neck
Titan Sports registered the service mark “Razor Ramon” with the US Patent and
Trademark Office.
The contract between Titan Sports and Hall provided that Titan Sports retained
exclusive ownership of the character’s name and likeness and the exclusive right to
distribute copyrightable materials based on the character  Hall warranted that he
would not enter other agreements conflicting with Titan Sport’s contract rights
Titan Sports developed another character using wrestler Kevin Nash who also
wrestled unsuccessfully with WCW  Nash and Titan Sports entered into a contract
similar with Halls’; Nash’s character was “Diesel” alias “Big Daddy Cool:
 goatee beard and mustache
 black leather boots, pants and vest decorated with silver studs and tassels
 black low cut tank-top shirt,
 black fingerless glove on right hand, black elbow pads, black wrist bands, sunglasses,
Both Ramon Razor and Diesel became popular characters.
guaranteed contracts.
Plaintiff Titan Sports alleges that defendant Bischoff planned to capitalize on the
goodwill of the Razor Ramon and Diesel characters.
Plaintiff Titan Sports filed a complaint against defendants alleging copyright
infringement of the characters Razor Ramon and Diesel.
Defendants moved to dismissed Counts I, II, V, VIII, and XI of complaint.
ISSUE: WON defendants are liable for copyright infringement of the characters of
Razor Ramon and Diesel- YES
RULING:
Copyright Infringement (COUNTS I and II): DENIED
-To establish copyright infringement, plaintiff must prove ownership of a copyright and
that defendants copied the protected material
-Copyright registration is prima facie evidence of the valid ownership of a copyright
-The owner of a copyright in various works embodying a character can acquire
copyright protection itself
-The plaintiff, however, must still demonstrate that the character was distinctively
delineated in the plaintiff’s work, and such delineation was copied in the defendant’s
work
-But the protection is limited to the character as defined by performance in the
copyrighted works  only a uniquely developed character with some degree of
novelty is copyrightable; the less developed the characters, the less they can be
copyrighted
-In the present case, plaintiff Titan Sports does not have a registered copyright in the
character Diesel but has obtained copyright registrations in numerous broadcasts,
videos, and magazines in which its Diesel character has appeared
Service Mark Infringement (COUNT V): DENIED
-A prima facie case of infringement is made out by showing the use of ones
trademark by another in a way that is likely to confuse consumers as to the source of
the product
-The confusion requirement is satisfied if the use of the mark deceives the public into
believing that the trademark owner sponsored or otherwise approved of the use of the
mark or was in some way connected with the allegedly infringed use
-Plaintiff Titan Sports correctly alleged actual use of its registered trademark on three
occasion and was used to confuse or deceive fans into believing Hall was still
wrestling for plaintiff, when in reality he was performing for defendants thus,
capitalizing the goodwill and value of plaintiff’s trademark
*only included held portion of counts that are relevant