WWE has responded to MLW’s anti-trust lawsuit that was filed against the company back in January. WWE have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, attempting to ensure it will not reach the courtroom.
MLW’s lawsuit alleged a variety of poor business practices on the side of WWE, including that they attempted to; “[disrupt] every level of MLW’s business, including a major streaming deal for MLW which would have been transformative for the company.
PWInsider have reported that WWE filed the dismissal motion on Tuesday in the United States District Court, Northern District of California. The company asked for the dismissal of the court case for a variety of reasons, including stating that MLW, “failed to plausibly plead a facially sustainable relevant market, monopoly power or anticompetitive conduct, or antitrust injury.” As well as adding that, “MLW’s claim for intentional interference with contractual relations is unsupported by factual allegations, and what allegations MLW pleads are entirely implausible.” A court hearing regarding any motions to dismiss has been scheduled for September 29th.
WWE’s full dismissal request reads as follows:
“First, WWE moves pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss MLW’s federal antitrust claim because MLW failed to plausibly plead (1) a facially sustainable relevant market, (2) monopoly power or anticompetitive conduct, or (3) antitrust injury. WWE further moves to dismiss MLW’s remaining state law claims pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) because the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over them if the federal antitrust claim is dismissed.
Second, WWE moves pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss all state law claims should this Court exercises jurisdiction over them.
MLW’s claim for intentional interference with contractual relations is unsupported by factual allegations, and what allegations MLW pleads are entirely implausible. MLW’s claim for intentional interference with prospective economic advantage fails because MLW does not allege that WWE knew about MLW’s negotiations to sell a third party first-run programming, nor does MLW plausibly allege that WWE’s alleged single communication with the third party influenced its decision not to purchase MLW’s content.
Finally, MLW’s unfair competition claim fails because (1) it is not tethered to some other viable antitrust or tort claim, and (2) MLW lacks Article III and statutory standing to assert such a claim.
Finally, WWE moves pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5) to dismiss MLW’s complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction because neither party is a resident of California, no harm specific to California is alleged, and none of the alleged misconduct took place in California.”
Finally, it should be noted that in the time since WWE filed their motion to dismiss MLW’s lawsuit, MLW’s Court Bauer has responded. Bauer issued a statement to PWInsider, in which he stated; “Of course WWE is scrambling to dismiss. They don’t want this thing to go to court. I look forward to that opportunity.”
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