After Jim Cornette stated independent wrestler Brandon “G-Raver” Graver should have been allowed to bleed to death following a severe injury during a deathmatch, Graver began selling a “Fuck Jim Cornette” t-shirt through The Indy Connection. Cornette threatened legal action, and after continuing to sell the t-shirt privately, Cornette followed through with his legal threat. To further fuel the fire Graver and The Indy Connection began selling a “Clownette” t-shirt.
It’s now been confirmed by court records that the court went against Cornette due to the shirts being sold to critique Cornette’s views on deathmatch wrestling through parody. Also, the shirts didn’t create a likelihood of confusion, according to the below excerpt from Judge Kim R. Gibson’s decision.
G-Raver’s use of Cornette’s name and likeness on the Shirts, or in the website names, is not similar to Cornette’s use on his own merchandise and website. Although G-Raver has used Cornette’s name and likeness, no consumer is likely to get the same overall impression from either: (1) a t-shirt with Cornette depicted as a clown—and called “Clownette;” or (2) bloodied, gagged, and with tattoo needles in his forehead—with the words “Fuck Jim Cornette surrounding his image—as they would from a t-shirt with Cornette’s face or his face and the words “Thank you, Fuck you, Bye.” The fact that the word “fuck” appears on both Cornette’s shirts and the FJC Shirt is irrelevant because the usage of the word is completely separate: in one, Cornette is telling off his critics, while in the other, G-Raver is expressing his distaste for Cornette. For the same reasons, no consumer would receive the same impression from visiting a website that had either the URL www.fuckjimcornette.com or www.clownette.com as from visiting www.jimcornette.com.
Judge Kim R. GibsonCornette discussed this case on his podcast when he filed the lawsuit and was very confident about his chances of success, so losing this preliminary injunction will have likely come as a huge disappointment to him.
