Notice of Opposition Opposer Information Applicant Information

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Electronic Filing System. http://estta.uspto.gov ESTTA Tracking number: ESTTA871491 Filing date: 01/17/2018 IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Notice of Opposition

Notice is hereby given that the following party opposes registration of the indicated application. Opposer Information

Name World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Granted to Date 01/17/2018 of previous ex- tension Address 1241 East Main Street Stamford, CT 06902 UNITED STATES

Attorney informa- Christopher M. Verdini tion K&L Gates LLP 210 Sixth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222 UNITED STATES Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Applicant Information

Application No 87441859 Publication date 09/19/2017 Opposition Filing 01/17/2018 Opposition Peri- 01/17/2018 Date od Ends Applicant Manzke, Tara Lynn 925 Main Street, Stevens Point, WI 54481 1851 Red Oak Drive Plover, WI 54467 UNITED STATES Goods/Services Affected by Opposition

Class 035. First Use: 0 First Use In Commerce: 0 All goods and services in the class are opposed, namely: Retail clothing boutiques Grounds for Opposition

Priority and likelihood of confusion Trademark Act Section 2(d) Marks Cited by Opposer as Basis for Opposition

U.S. Registration 5082720 Application Date 10/21/2014 No. Registration Date 11/15/2016 Foreign Priority NONE Date Word Mark BRIE BELLA Design Mark

Description of NONE Mark Goods/Services Class 041. First use: First Use: 2008/08/29 First Use In Commerce: 2008/08/29 Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by professional wrestlers and entertainers rendered live and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via theinternet or commercial online service; Providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment via an online community portal; Providing a website in the field of sports entertainment; Fan club services; Organizing and staging social entertainment events with fan club members; Providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; Online journals, namely, blogs, in the fieldsof sports entertainment

U.S. Registration 5013547 Application Date 10/21/2014 No. Registration Date 08/02/2016 Foreign Priority NONE Date Word Mark NIKKI BELLA Design Mark

U.S. Registration 4809017 Application Date 06/14/2013 No. Registration Date 09/08/2015 Foreign Priority NONE Date Word Mark BELLA TWINS Design Mark

Description of NONE Mark Goods/Services Class 041. First use: First Use: 2007/09/15 First Use In Commerce: 2007/09/15 Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by professional wrestlers and entertainers rendered live and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via theInternet or commercial online service, excluding the field of baseball games, exhibitions, contests and other baseball related services, activities or information; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network, excluding the field of baseball games, exhibitions, contests and other baseball related services, activities or information; Providing information in the fields ofsports, entertainment and related topics via an online community portal, excluding the field of baseball games, exhibitions, contests and other baseball related services, activities or information; Providing a website in the field of sports entertainment, excluding the field of baseball games, exhibitions, contests and other baseball related services, activities or information; Fan club services,organizing and staging events with fan club members, promoting the interest andparticipation of fan club members, and providing an online community forum for fan club members, excluding the field ofbaseball games, exhibitions, contests and other baseball related services, activities or information; Providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment, excluding the field of baseball games, exhibitions, contests and other baseball related services, activities or information; Online journals, namely,blogs, in the fields of sports entertainment, excluding the field of baseball games, exhibitions, contests and other baseball related services, activities or information

Attachments 86429950#TMSN.png( bytes ) 86429958#TMSN.png( bytes ) 85960248#TMSN.png( bytes ) Bria Bella Notice of Opposition.pdf(20956 bytes )

Signature /Christopher M. Verdini/ Name Christopher M. Verdini Date 01/17/2018 IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD

Applicant: Tara Lynn Manzke Serial No.: 87/441,859 Mark: Bria Bella & Co. Strong Beautiful You Class: 35 Filing Date: May 9, 2017 Publication Date: September 19, 2017

______WORLD WRESTLING ) ENTERTAINMENT, INC., ) ) Opposer, ) ) Opposition No. ______v. ) ) TARA LYNN MANZKE, ) ) Applicant. ) ______)

NOTICE OF OPPOSITION

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (“Opposer” or “WWE”), a Delaware corporation

with its principal place of business at 1241 East Main Street, Stamford, Connecticut 06902,

believes that it will be damaged by registration of the mark Bria Bella & Co. Strong Beautiful

You, which is the subject of Application Serial No. 87/441,859 (“Bria Bella Application”). As

such, WWE opposes the Bria Bella Application and requests that registration be refused. The

Bria Bella Application was filed by Tara Lynn Manzke, an individual with an address of 1851

Red Oak Dr, Plover, Wisconsin 54467 and authorized e-mail addresses of [email protected]

and [email protected] (“Applicant”).

As grounds in support of its opposition, Opposer asserts as follows: I. Introduction

1. WWE is an integrated media and entertainment company that has been involved

in the sports entertainment business for over 35 years and has developed WWE into one of the

most popular brands in global entertainment today. WWE develops unique and creative content

centered around its talent and presents it via its subscription network (WWE Network),

television, online, and its live events.

2. At the heart of WWE’s success are the athletic and entertainment skills and

appeal of its talent, known as “WWE Superstars,” and the consistently innovative and multifaceted storylines WWE creates for its Superstars. WWE also licenses and sells consumer products depicting WWE’s distinctive trademarks, logos and images of its Superstars.

3. WWE’s unique content, for which it coined the term “sports entertainment,” is perhaps best described as an action-adventure episodic drama that is akin to an ongoing, ever- developing soap opera based around WWE’s Superstars. WWE creates colorful characters that generally wrestle under a trademarked name and are distinctively delineated with unique persona, history, relationships, music, visual appearance, and behavior.

4. WWE promotes hundreds of live events each year that take place in arenas and stadiums in cities around the world.

5. WWE produces approximately twelve pay-per-view events per year, which are extensively promoted and widely attended and viewed. For example, in 2016, WWE’s marquee pay-per-view event, WrestleMania,® took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas and drew

over 101,000 spectators from all 50 states and 35 countries, and grossed over $17 million. In

2017, WrestleMania® took place in at the Orlando Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida and drew

over 75,000 spectators from all 50 states and 62 countries and grossed approximately $14.5

million.

- 2 - 6. In addition to its pay-per-view events, WWE currently produces two weekly television programs entitled “RAW®” and “Smackdown®” that feature sports entertainment

programming every Monday and Tuesday night nationwide on the USA Network cable

television channel.

7. In or around February 2014, WWE launched the WWE Network, the first-ever

24/7 direct-to-consumer online video-streaming network, available in over 180 countries and

territories. As of January 2017, WWE Network had approximately 1.5 million paid subscribers.

The WWE Network carries all of WWE’s pay-per-view events as well as original programming.

8. WWE also provides WWE Network subscribers with “on demand” access to a

massive and continuously growing video library of historical pay-per-view events and television

programs from WWE and its predecessors as well as footage that WWE has acquired from third

party wrestling promotions. WWE also syndicates its video content on Hulu and YouTube

including full length episodes and clips of “RAW®,” “Smackdown®” and a variety of classic content and original short-form webisodes.

9. Each year, more than 7,000 hours of WWE programming can be seen in 650 million homes in more than 180 countries and territories and 35 languages.

10. Ancillary to its sports entertainment programming, WWE engages in an extensive licensing program to create and sell products featuring its trademarks, copyrighted works, copyrighted characters and other intellectual property in diverse categories including, among other things, apparel, video games, toys and DVDs. In 2016, WWE earned over $100 million in net revenues from its licensing and sale of consumer products.

- 3 - II. Opposer’s BRIE BELLA Mark

11. Brianna Monique Donaldson is one of the WWE Superstars. Since 2008, Ms.

Donaldson has performed for WWE under the trademarked ring name BRIE BELLA.

12. WWE has used the BRIE BELLA mark to advertise and promote its

entertainment services, including performances by BRIE BELLA and the professional wrestling

tag team who, along with NIKKI BELLA, preformed under the trademarked name BELLA

TWINS.

13. In addition, WWE and/or its licensees have advertised and sold various goods

under the BRIE BELLA trademark including on WWE’s official merchandise online store at

http://shop.wwe.com/brie-bella.

14. In connection with the foregoing, WWE owns common law rights and U.S.

Registration No. 5,082,720 for BRIE BELLA, as well as common law and U.S. Registrations for

NIKKI BELLA (U.S. Reg. No. 5,013,547) and BELLA TWINS (U.S. Reg. No. 4,809,017).

15. The popularity, success, and recognition of the goods and services offered by

Opposer under its BRIE BELLA mark are the direct result of the substantial time and money

invested by WWE in development, marketing and promotion of the mark. The BRIE BELLA

Mark is uniquely and exclusively associated with WWE and has become indelibly linked in the public’s mind in exclusive association with and in exclusive sponsorship by WWE.

16. WWE has used and continues to use its BRIE BELLA mark in connection with its

WWE Superstars, wrestling entertainment services and related goods through its internationally-

distributed cable and internet programming and its live events in cities around the world. Such

use predates any date of first use upon which Applicant can rely.

- 4 - 17. Despite the long use and recognition of WWE’s BRIE BELLA mark, Applicant

has filed an application to register the nearly identical Bria Bella Application in International

Class 35 for “retail clothing boutiques.” Applicant filed the application on May 9, 2017 and the application was assigned Serial No. 87/441,859.

III. The Application Should Be Dismissed Because A Likelihood Of Confusion Exists

18. As described herein, Opposer’s BRIE BELLA mark is uniquely associated with

Opposer and is a valuable intellectual property asset of Opposer.

19. Applicant’s applied for “Bria Bella” mark is nearly identical in sight, sound and commercial meaning to Opposer’s BRIE BELLA mark in that (a) it begins with the nearly identical “Bria Bella” term prominently displayed; (b) adds to Bria Bella the generic term “&

Co.” and (c) displays in small print the phrase “Strong Beautiful You” which could be used to describe BRIE BELLA’s character. Thus, the mark as applied for in the Bria Bella Application is likely, when used on or in connection with the services set forth in Applicant’s application, to

cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive relative to Opposer’s BRIE BELLA mark

within the meaning of Section 2(d) of the Lanham Act.

20. Moreover, during the prosecution of the Bria Bella Application, Applicant

disclaimed the phrase “& Co” from the applied-for mark. Therefore, in addition to the

Applicant’s mark beginning with the nearly identical term “Bria Bella,” Applicant has conceded

that the dominant or most significant portion of the Applicant’s mark is “Bria Bella.”

21. By applying for a mark that is nearly identical in sight, sound and commercial meaning to Opposer’s BRIA BELLA Mark in connection with services that consumers would consider to be closely related to services provided by Opposer, Applicant’s applied-for mark in

- 5 - the Bria Bella Application is likely to cause confusion among consumers as to Opposer’s

affiliation and/or sponsorship of Applicant’s goods and services.

22. Accordingly, Opposer, as the owner of the BRIE BELLA mark, will be damaged

if Applicant’s Bria Bella Application is registered to Applicant.

WHEREFORE, Opposer prays that the Notice of Opposition be sustained and that registration of U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 87/441,859 be refused.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Christopher M. Verdini Curtis B. Krasik, Esquire Christopher M. Verdini, Esquire K&L GATES LLP K&L Gates Center 210 Sixth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222 (412) 355-6500 (Telephone) (412) 355-6501 (Facsimile)

Attorneys for Opposer World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

January 17, 2018

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