''TNA Entertainment, LLC. v. Wittenstein and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.'' was a lawsuit filed on May 23, 2012 in Nashville,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

by TNA Entertainment, LLC., against former employee Brian Wittenstein and

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

(

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

WWE). WWE and TNA were the two largest national professional wrestling promotions in the United States. The suit alleged that Wittenstein violated a non-disclosure agreement and shared confidential information with WWE which represented a comparative advantage in negotiating with wrestling talent under contract with TNA. The lawsuit was formally withdrawn without prejudice, by the plaintiff, TNA, on January 15, 2013 under a "Notice of Voluntary Nonsuit" which offers no ruling on the merits of the suit and allows TNA to potentially refile at a later date.

Background

Brian Wittenstein signed a severance agreement with TNA, his former employer, on August 3, 2011 which included a non-disclosure agreement preventing him from disclosing certain confidential TNA information (including information regarding talent contracts). He was subsequently hired by WWE after which, TNA asserted that Wittenstein violated the agreement by downloading confidential TNA trade secrets and providing that information to WWE. Although WWE fired Wittenstein and alerted TNA officials as to the disclosure of the information, TNA claimed that WWE had access to the information for three weeks prior to disclosure and in this time, WWE used secret contract information and attempted to poach their talent in violation of Tennessee's

Uniform Trade Secrets Act The Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA), published by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) in 1979 and amended in 1985, is a Uniform Act promulgated for adoption by states in the United States. One goal of the UTSA is to make the state laws governing tra ...

. The information was alleged to include data regarding wrestler compensation, which was used to recruit contracted TNA talent to work for WWE. One prominent wrestler named in the suit was Ric Flair, whom TNA claims asked for his release from the company in order to sign with WWE following Wittenstein's disclosure of information to WWE. In TNA's suit, they stated:

References

{{Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Class action lawsuits WWE Impact Wrestling

Background

See also

References