Matt Hardy filed a trademark application for the “Broken Matt Hardy” name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, according to Pro Wrestling Sheet. The application says it’s for “Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibits and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer.”
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Trademark applications typically take six months to a year to be approved and registered, though an initial response from the trademark office usually comes within three months and if Impact Wrestling decides to challenge it, it would likely delay things.
It was previously reported that both Matt Hardy and Impact Wrestling are claiming that they own the rights to the name.
Sources close to Matt Hardy are saying that TNA is able to profit off of anything that is already taped, but ultimately, Matt Hardy owns the name and characters that he came up with.
However, Impact Wrestling says that that isn’t true and that their deal with the Hardys “specifically states” that Impact “owns all intellectual property creations” despite the fact that Matt Hardy created them.