Wednesday afternoon Major League Baseball Properties released a statement saying that they had settled their trademark infringement lawsuit against Upper Deck out of court.
While the full terms of the agreement were not made readily available, MLB did release several of the non-confidential portions of the settlement:
- Upper Deck will pay MLB Properties an unspecified amount of money to compensate them for their unlicensed 2010 Upper Deck Baseball card releases.
- Upper Deck has agreed to not release any more baseball card products that infringe upon MLB trademarks and licenses.
- Upper Deck agreed it will not make any new baseball card sets which feature MLB logos, uniforms, trade dress, and/or color combinations which are suggestive of MLB ball clubs.
- Upper Deck will not airbrush, alter, block, or otherwise manipulate MLB logos or uniforms in any of their future baseball card products.
- Prior to releasing any future baseball card products, Upper Deck will be required to have MLB approve the jerseys, pants, jackets, caps, helmets or catcher’s equipment featured on the cards prior to releasing anything.
- Upper Deck will also make good on the $2.4 million of unpaid debt that it owes MLB from back in 2009.
“Our settlement in the case against Upper Deck is a clear and decisive victory for Major League Baseball,” said Ethan Orlinsky, Major League Baseball Property's Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Upper Deck will be unable to release baseball trading cards that incorporate Major League Baseball’s intellectual property in the future. The real winners today are the millions of fans who collect baseball cards. They will be able to clearly identify official Major League Baseball trading cards without any confusion.”
Upper Deck issued a press release of their own in response to the settlement, saying they were “pleased with the settlement.” Read the Upper Deck press release in its entirety.
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 1 BOX 2010 TOPPS ALLEN GINTER BASEBALL CARDS SEALED US $23.99 |
 2010 TOPPS 2 HOBBY BASEBALL 5 BOX LOT US $248.00 |
 2010 Topps II Baseball Hobby Box US $55.00 |
 2010 Topps II Jumbo Baseball Box US $88.00 |
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