Source: PWInsider.com
In what has been one of the more interesting stories over the past few days, WWE has officially banned The Dudley Boyz from using that name outside of the company. The duo was forced to use “Team 3D” at the recent WrestleReunion event and faces the difficulty of not being able to fully benefit from the work associated with WWE’s trademark.
WWE filed for the trademark on 10/28/03; it was registered on 9/28/04, citing a first use of 10/17/99. The Dudleys actually debuted for WWE on 8/30/99.
Sources close to the situation report that the ECW bankruptcy proceedings forced WWE to wait so long to file the trademark. As has been reported, Paul Heyman assured the tag team that they’d get the rights to their name upon leaving ECW, but, for whatever reason, that never happened.
