In the world of professional wrestling, a copyright lawsuit accusing WWE of using material from an independent wrestling promotion as inspiration for The Bloodline’s presentation has officially been dismissed with prejudice.
Independent promoter Nathaniel Tatha-Nanandji, who promoted WCWA Wrestling in Arkansas — alleged that WWE copied a recurring visual sequence associated with his Tier 1 faction. The sequence involved members of the group coming together and raising one finger in the air, with Tatha-Nanandji claiming that a similar presentation was later incorporated into The Bloodline.
The court ultimately ruled in favor of WWE and the other defendants, finding that Tatha-Nanandji had not sufficiently established that WWE had access to the copyrighted material or that the two sequences were substantially similar under copyright law.
In its ruling, the court additionally noted that the alleged Tier 1 sequence did not appear consistently throughout the evidence submitted in the case. It further determined that the similarities identified by Tatha-Nanandji did not meet the legal standard necessary to establish copyright infringement.
WWE and 2K had previously argued that there was no substantial similarity of protectable expression between the WCWA footage and the poses associated with The Bloodline. The court ultimately agreed with that position.
The case was dismissed with prejudice, preventing Tatha-Nanandji from re-filing the same claim before the court.