Luchasaurus and AEW are tied to a lawsuit in regard to merchandising rights over the wrestler’s mask.
Wrestlenomics reported Composite Effects (CFX), the company that designed Luchasaurus’ mask, sued AEW and Luchasaurus (Austin Matelson) in December 2022 over merchandising rights for the mask. According to the suit filed in the United States District Court Eastern District of Louisiana in December 2022, CFX is asking for profits that AEW and Matelson have earned from his use of their mask design.
In addition to profits earned from merchandise featuring the mask, CFX is also seeking other damages and attorney fees.
CFX claims it “owns licensing and design rights on all of our characters” and that Matelson nor AEW was entitled to create merchandise that used their mask design. The lawsuit notes that Matelson worked with CFX in 2016 to design a modified version of their “Viper Silicone Mask”, and again in 2019 when they added horns to it.
CFX attempted to sign a licensing agreement when Luchasaurus signed with AEW in 2019, according to email records provided in the lawsuit. CFX then communicated with AEW in 2021 about a new mask design that AEW bought the rights to, but that design was “not used much, if at all.” Matelson later wrote CFX and said that he and Tony Khan agreed his original mask design was too iconic to switch. CFX then asked AEW to stop using the original design or sign a licensing agreement for it, but no deal was made.
CFX claims their mask is depicted in AEW merchandise and advertisement and it infringes on their copyright. A version of the mask is still available on the CFX website.
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