Upper Deck strikes out.
The mighty are not only falling…they’re dropping. quickly. Honestly, what is going on over at The Upper Deck company?
The problems all begin in 2008 when Upper Deck when Konami discovered that counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards were being sold in stores by an Upper Deck sub-distributor. After taking action against the sub-distributor, the sub-distributor dropped the dime; “the cards were supplied by Upper Deck”. Lovely.
One hundreds of million dollar lawsuit and year of legal discovery later? Turns out the sub-distributor was right; Upper Deck had not only created the counterfeit cards, they were shredding evidence.
Discovery in the lawsuit revealed that Upper Deck had counterfeited Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards, and that it took extensive steps to cover-up that activity. The cover-up included a meeting in the office of Upper Deck’s chairman, in which he and at least one other Upper Deck employee compared samples of authentic Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards against fakes made by Upper Deck, and shredded the samples in the chairman’s office, as well as an e-mail from an employee of Upper Deck to other employees asking to provide her information on how to obtain Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG security foils “in secrecy.” (via Earth Times)
Mr. Howell of Rutan & Tucker noted in the opening statement to the jury: ”The behavior is still undeniably wrong. And I am in here, as counsel for the two defendants, asking you to hold my clients accountable for that behavior; asking you to hold my clients responsible for this conduct that there is no dispute, and there was no disputing even before this case started today, that it was wrong.” (via Earth Times)
Upper Deck recently unveiled two new sets of cards — its “Signature Stars” and “Ultimate Collection” lines for the 2009 season — that do not have team names or logos printed on the borders of the cards, but do include pictures of players in MLB uniforms. The card of Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis, for example, shows him wearing the club’s jersey and signature “B” batting helmet, but the card’s border identifies his team only as “Boston.”Those new card lines are at the center of MLB’s complaint, in which it alleges that Upper Deck’s conduct is “reflective of a pattern of utter disrespect for the contractual and intellectual property rights of those from whom it licenses valuable trademarks.” The suit was filed after MLB earlier sent a letter to card distributors asking them not to sell Upper Deck’s 2010 baseball sets. (via MLB Fanhouse)
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Sites That Link to this Post
- NHL new trading card licensing structure | Sports Business Digest | April 1, 2010
- MLB Union: Upper Deck owes players money | Sports Business Digest | April 20, 2010
Upper Deck = Classic Card Company.
Bye-Bye Upper Deck and your 17 card company logos and your $99/pack card offerings.
No one’s at the helm, and the inmates are running the asylum.
I say Good Day to you sirs!
I disagree with the comment that nobody is at the helm. Their problem IS the guy at the helm. Has always been the problem. Complete disregard for doing the right thing and new attorneys all the time. I was right down the hall for the first 4 years of UDC and got to see it first hand.