Ravensburger, publisher of the highly-anticipated new Disney Lorcana buying and selling card recreation, has issued a proper response to a lawsuit by competitor Upper Deck. In it, the sport and toy producer calls Upper Deck’s lawsuit “the legal equivalent of alchemy” and calls for that it’s dismissed outright. The announcement, made Thursday in a information launch, features a 34-page authorized response. But it additionally title drops some of the potent authorized minds in the rarefied realm of TCG legislation, Brian Lewis, whose work as the final counsel at Wizards of the Coast helped pave the best way for the present dominance of Magic: The Gathering — but in addition the bigger ecosystem of recent buying and selling card video games extra usually.
To get you up to the mark on the problems at hand, perceive that Upper Deck’s lawsuit landed with fairly a dramatic thud when it was revealed on June 7. In it, the California-based publisher of sports activities playing cards, video games, and buying and selling playing cards alleges that Disney Lorcana co-designer Ryan Miller had beforehand created an identical recreation that’s “nearly identical” to Disney Lorcana whereas beneath contract with Upper Deck. It additionally asks that the launch of the sport, set for August this 12 months, be stopped with an injunction.
Ravensburger vehemently disputes Upper Decks’ claims. In it’s response, Ravensburger even calls into query each the timing and the venue of the lawsuit itself. Taken altogether, it paints Upper Deck’s efforts to design a competing TCG as lazy, and its authorized wrangling as wholly opportunistic.
“Upper Deck claims it would have sought the return of confidential information and/or prevented its employees from communicating with Mr. Miller if it was aware of Mr. Miller’s employment at Ravensburger and the company’s work on a competing TCG,” reads the movement to dismiss. “But Upper Deck was aware of Mr. Miller’s employment with Ravensburger and work on Lorcana when the game was announced in September 2022. And despite that awareness, Upper Deck did nothing. Upper Deck cannot now lament that it was damaged by its own inaction.”
It is a posh authorized case by any estimation, and touches on problems with work-for-hire and non-compete agreements (or the dearth thereof). But at its core this can be a lawsuit about recreation mechanics. So the addition of Lewis as a authorized advisor to Ravensburger is subsequently notable. That’s as a result of Lewis, in his function with Wizards of the Coast in the Nineties and early 2000s, was instrumental in securing the preliminary patents that protected Magic across the time of its launch. Those similar patents and the authorized work that surrounds them have since shaped the authorized framework for buying and selling card video games globally. Without them, it’s unlikely that both Magic or another profitable TCG would exist in the identical type it does immediately.
“Ravensburger has an extremely strong case here,” reads a quote from Lewis in the information launch, “and we hope it will be dismissed outright based on today’s motion. While we respect the valid intellectual property rights of others, this appears to be more of a PR stunt than a genuine legal dispute. I also want to add that I’ve had the great fortune to know Ryan Miller personally for over 20 years and consider him to be a person of the highest ethical standards.”
“We’re glad to be moving forward with the legal process and feel very confident in our position,” stated Lisa Krueger, senior communications director for Ravensburger North America. “In the meantime, our team is keeping its focus on the upcoming launch. We’re excited to see everyone at Gen Con and can’t wait to see fans begin to purchase this game in our booth.”
For a deeper dive on the nuts and bolts of Lewis’ greater than three a long time of labor in the TCG area, try The Booster Pack Network’s in-depth, 95-minute interview from January.
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