WWE Drops Jey Uso “Yeet” Catchphrase & Pulls Merchandise Over Trademark Issues

Monday’s WWE RAW show in Albany, New York was notable for WWE making a change to Jey Uso’s “Yeet” catchphrase and blurring out his Yeet shirt in a video package involving him from last week’s show.

WrestleVotes reported that their sources stated that the reason is due to trademark-related legal issues that WWE officials recently discovered which caused them to dropped Uso’s “Yeet” catchphrase and pull all of his merchandise containing that phrase. It was reported that WWE officials will no longer have that word be associated with Uso on WWE programming going forward.

Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert reported that this issue revolves around two trademarks that were filed by an indie wrestler named Kassey Huffman in 2021. Huffman reportedly had trademarked the terms “Yeet” and “Yeet Movement” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes. Lambert reported that the filing for “Yeet” is currently suspended and has been in this status since October of 2022.

SUSPENSION NOTICE
No Response Required
Issue date: October 08, 2022
INTRODUCTION
This Office action is in response to applicant’s communication filed on 10/03/2022.
In a previous Office action(s) dated 04/03/2022, applicant was informed of the following issues:
REFUSAL – MATERIAL MISMATCH WITH SPECIMEN
REFUSAL – NONMATERIAL MISMATCH WITH SPECIMEN
REFUSAL – SPECIMEN DOES NOT SHOW USE IN COMMERCE
POTENTIAL REFUSAL – PRIOR-FILED APPLICATION
REQUIREMENT – IDENTIFICATION OF GOODS AND/OR SERVICES
Based on applicant’s response dated 10/03/2022, the following issues have been
resolved: REQUIREMENT – IDENTIFICATION OF GOODS AND/OR SERVICES. See TMEP
§§713.02, 714.04.
Applicant’s arguments and amendment with respect to refusal(s) and/or requirement(s) have been
considered and found unpersuasive. While applicant has attached a new specimen, the substitute
specimen is a video that indicates the wrestler is Huffmanly. There is no indication that either wrestler
mentioned in the video is ‘Yeet”. The only association of “Yeet” is on the shirt which Huffmanly is
wearing and possibly as a chant. However, this mention is unclear to whether “Yeet” refers to the
applied-for services and not a random slogan that has no meaning to the applied-for services at hand.
As such, the following refusal(s) and requirement(s) are continued and maintained:
REFUSAL – SPECIMEN
•
POTENTIAL REFUSAL – PRIOR-FILED APPLICATION
•
Further, the trademark examining attorney is suspending action on the application for the reason(s)
stated below. See 37 C.F.R. §2.67; TMEP §§716 et seq.
SUSPENSION OF APPLICATION
The effective filing date of the pending application(s) identified below precedes the filing date of
applicant’s application. If the mark in the referenced application(s) registers, applicant’s mark may be
refused registration under Section 2(d) because of a likelihood of confusion with that registered
mark(s). See 15 U.S.C. §1052(d); 37 C.F.R. §2.83; TMEP §§1208 et seq. Therefore, action on this
application is suspended until the earlier-filed referenced application(s) is either registered or
abandoned. 37 C.F.R. §2.83(c). A copy of information relevant to this referenced application(s) was
sent previously.
-Application Serial No(s). 90458959
CONCLUSION
Suspension process. The USPTO will periodically check this application to determine if it should
remain suspended. See TMEP §716.04. As needed, the trademark examining attorney will issue a
letter to applicant to inquire about the status of the reason for the suspension. TMEP §716.05.

Lambert reported that WWE never actually filed a trademark for “Yeet” as the reason for the current issues on their end.