THQ And Jakks Square Off Over WWE License Renewal

It's a no holds barred legal struggle between partners Jakks Pacific and THQ over when and if they should renew their licensing agreement with the WWE, set to expire at the end of this year.

Jakks Pacific has gone ahead and notified World Wrestling Entertainment of their intentions to renew to license to create video games based on the highly popular wrestling franchise for another five years, extending the current agreement until December 31st, 2014. Seems like a good idea, right?

Well not according to THQ, Jakks' partner in the Joint Venture that holds said license. According to a statement issued by Jakks Pacific today, THQ has filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court, asking that the court declare that Jakks was not authorized to make such a decision and THQ is not obligated to consent to such a decision.


Even more telling, THQ is also asking that the court declare a restrictive covenant in the Joint Venture agreement that restricts THQ from publishing a wrestling title for a period of one year following the termination of said venture be deemed unenforceable in California.

So basically THQ is looking to cover their assets, making sure that if they terminate the Jakks agreement that they'll still be able to publish wrestling titles. Jakks and THQ have also initiated arbitration proceedings relating to the issues, so the court case might come to nothing. Either way, it should be an interesting match.