Posted By Caroline Walsh on 06/16/17


WWE is gearing up for a possible legal battle with a small business owner in the UK over his logo, which they saw is a copy of one of their older ones. The Nottingham Post reports that Alistair “Big Al” Rowarth received an email threatening legal action over the logo for his Raw Motors in Nottingham, which they say is remarkably similar to their logo for Raw.

You can see the two logos at the link above. Rowarth says that the logo similarities are a coincidence and that he doesn’t watch wrestling. Raw Motors has been in business for sixteen months. Rowarth was given two months to change the logo but has instead asked WWE to face him in the ring over the issue.

“I would call myself Mad Jack McMahon or Kung Fu Panda,” Rowarth told the outlet. “I have never followed wrestling, I used to box, but I used to get mistaken as wrestler Bautista. I will probably get battered but I will wear the best outfit.”

WWE responded to the request with a legal letter which read, “This kind of flippant response as set out is extremely disappointing and not constructive. You and your client should understand the importance of intellectual property rights but making an offer such as this appears to demonstrate otherwise and suggests a lack of respect in contrast to that which our client has accorded to yours. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc, raised a legitimate complaint regarding your client’s adoption of the Logo and a response of this kind clearly indicates that your client is not taking it seriously.”

Rowarth said, “We are not changing the name. Never. We are just changing the design. We have put everything we have got into this business, such as re-mortgaging the house. It is petty. They are such a big organisation – fair enough if we had something to do with wrestling but we don’t.”

Rowarth’s company says it spent thousands on branding and will have to throw out 20,000 printed flyers as well as the sign on its doors, along with taking the logo off sixty hired vans. Manager Annamarie Garmston said, “When I first got the email through from WWE I thought it was a prank. We were like ‘how do they know about us?’ We were proud they knew about little Raw Motors in Colwick…They are hitting a small business. We are only in our first year of business and were hoping to make a profit but this is going to put a dent in that. I think we could win the legal battle but we can’t afford to see it through so we thought we had nothing to lose but to challenge them to a fight.”

A WWE spokesman told the outlet, “WWE takes its intellectual property rights very seriously in the interests of our official partners and licensees and to protect our fans and customers from confusion.”