WWE News: Shirt featuring WWE star withdrawn due to legal issues
John Cena is used to seeing his highly recognizable mug on various merchandise marketed by WWE, but the superstar and the company landed themselves in a spot of trouble after their latest merchandise seemed to violate trademarks – reports wrestlinginc.com.
The t-shirts were designed to commemorate Cena’s highly anticpated return from injury on the upcoming episode of Monday Night RAW.
The merchandise seemed extremely similar to the logo of beer firm Pabst Blue Ribbon, which was promptly pointed out by the company who took to social networking site Twitter to point out the clear violation.
The company, which was founded back in 1844, even seemed to threaten legal action in their tweet, which also made clever use of WWE terms.
A message to @JohnCena & the @WWE: We have a chokehold called the Cease & Desist. Pretty sure we see you pic.twitter.com/AKWjUEXiUj
— Pabst Blue Ribbon (@PabstBlueRibbon) May 27, 2016
This isn’t the first time Cena’s merchandise have been inspired from other designs, with previous t-shirts known for sporting designs similar to manufacturing firm John Deere and AWA Wrestling logos.
Following Pabst Blue Ribbon’s tweet, WWE acted quickly to remove images featuring Cena in the disputed t-shirt and replaced them with new designs.
All that aside, it will be great to see Cena back in the ring after a long spell on the sidelines. Let’s hope he brews something good (No pun intended).