American Nightmare vocalist Wesley Eisold appears to have filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes (aka Cody Runnels), along with WWE and their merchandising partner Fanatics. Postwrestling.com have reported that the complaint was filed in a Californian court yesterday, September 04th.
Rhodes has adopted the nickname of ‘The American Nightmare’ in the more recent years of his career, leading to a previous dispute between him and Eisold over the ‘American Nightmare’ trademark rights back in March of 2019.
Eisold is said to have held the U.S. trademark for ‘American Nightmare’ in relation to music, clothing, entertainment services and more since 2016. However, in 2019, Rhodes, who was employed by AEW at the time, attempted to register the trademark of ‘The American Nightmare’, a move which Eisold disputed.
In March of 2021, the two parties came to an arrangement that allowed Rhodes access to the phrase, but not without restrictions. Among the terms of that agreement were that Rhodes could only use the phrase on merchandise on which imagery related to Rhodes and or wrestling was also depicted and appeared 75% larger than ‘The American Nightmare’ text. Additionally, Eisold was paid out a one-time compensation of $30,000 USD for allowing Rhodes access to the phrase.
Eisold claims that Rhodes and the associated parties mentioned above in his complaint have since violated that past agreement, releasing merchandise which features ‘The American Nightmare’ phrase with little imagery directly related to Rhodes or wrestling, thus failing to properly distinguish the product from that of his band’s.
Eisold‘s complaint cited:
“Fans of WWE and wrestling continue to frequently tag [social media accounts for the musical band] the American Nightmare in Facebook and social media posts. To date, fans of both Runnels and American Nightmare purchase the Runnels clothes. Fans attending American Nightmare concerts and other events—including in California and specifically this judicial district—wear both the Runnels clothes and the Eisold clothes.”
Eisold‘s complaint further states that his representatives had previously contacted legal representation for Rhodes back in 2022 about an infringing ‘crown’ design shirt, but did not receive a response.
His complaint states that further cease and desist letters sent in April and May of this year were only met with minor clerical response from Fanatics that indicated that they had been referred to WWE. Eisold is said to be seeking damages of at least $150,000 USD over the dispute, with potential treble damages of up to $300,000, as well the costs of his legal fees in the case to be covered.
More on the case, including a picture of one of the allegedly infringing designs, can be found at postwrestling.com. At this point, Eisold is well versed in trademark disputes, with his own band having found themselves on the losing end of a such a dispute back in 2003.
The group were forced to change their name after a dispute with another band named American Nightmare emerged back in 2003. That dispute led to American Nightmare adopting several monikers, including American Nothing, Give Up The Ghost and more. Eisold‘s group performed under the name of Give Up The Ghost up to their 2004 breakup. They later returned under the American Nightmare name back in 2011.
