A New Model of Contractual Compensation: World Wide Fund for Nature v. World Wrestling Federation

• Main Author: LEE, Pey Woan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2006
• Subjects: Commercial Law; Contracts
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/773; http://www.i-law.com/ilaw/doc/view.htm?id=130511
• Institution: Singapore Management University

WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature v. World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc is the latest in a series of decisions concerning the right to use the initials “WWF” (“the Initials”). The activities of the disputants were patently incongruous; the claimant (the “Fund”) was a well-known charity engaged in a wide range of environmental conservation, while the defendant (the “Federation”) organized and promoted live wrestling matches. Anxious to avoid any injurious association that might arise from the Federation’s usage of the Initials, the Fund embarked on aggressive actions to impede such usage. In 1994, the parties entered into a settlement agreement (“the Agreement”) which severely restricted the Federation’s right to use the Initials worldwide. Subsequently, the Federation committed numerous breaches of the Agreement, against which the Fund successfully obtained injunctive relief as well as an order for damages to be assessed; but the trial judge rejected the latter’s application to amend its pleading (relying on Attorney-General v. Blake) to seek an account of the profits which the Federation derived from the infringing use of the Initials.