— The United States Patent and Trademark Office has given “initial refusal” for all four trademarks that Global Force Wrestling applied for earlier this year.
— The “Broken Matt” trademark was denied because of likely confusion with the same term that Matt Hardy attempted to trademark first. Once they are able to prove no confusion, the matter would essentially be put on hold as the USPTO evaluates Matt’s filing for the trademark, since it came first. GFW also needs to identify whether the term “Broken Matt” refers to a living person, and thus, would need Matt’s consent.
— The same goes for the “Brother Nero” trademark, which needs to be identified as a living person and also would need Jeff Hardy’s consent.
— “Broken Brilliance” was denied because GFW needs to demonstrate whether this is simply a “term of art” in wrestling or whether it carries greater significance.