Topps Agreement Forces Upper Deck To Discontinue Production of Key Sports Card Sets
Earlier this year Topps sued rival sports card manufacturer Upper Deck on the basis that numerous 2009 Upper Deck Sports Card Products copied the designs of various 1970's Topps Baseball Card Sets. Upper Deck scored an early legal victory when a New York judge ruled in their favor by denying Topps' request for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented Upper Deck from releasing 2009 Upper Deck Series 2 Baseball and 2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball.
The next chapter in the legal battle between Topps and Upper Deck was revealed late last week when the two bitter rivals reached an out of court agreement as they await their day in court. According to court documents filed on June 18th, the agreement will allow Upper Deck to continue to sell its existing stock of 2009 Series One and Two Baseball, 2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball and 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Hockey cards until July 16. Upper Deck will then have to cease production, distribution, and promotion of the sets named in the lawsuit. A hearing on whether Upper Deck will eventually have to recall the aforementioned products will be delayed until the case goes to trial. The trial date has yet to be scheduled.
The similarities between the Upper Deck cards in question and 1975 Topps Baseball are numerous. Both baseball card designs use a 2-color outer border, a thin white border that surrounds the players' photos, bubble-lettered team names complete with shadows near the tops of the cards, player names written in a single color located at the bottom of the card, and sport a baseball in the bottom corner.
Upper Deck says in its defense that the Topps baseball card designs that it supposedly copied are "common and functional" and therefore not protected as a matter of law. In taking this stand, Upper Deck appears to taking the position that trading card designs should not be protected by copyright laws. Should they prevail over Topps, this could ultimately diminish the level of protection available to any and all trading cards - including their own brands.
Regardless of the similarities that exist between the sets, Topps could easily find itself in a no win situation. Should Topps come out victorious, it would significantly strengthen the copyright protections available to the trading card industry as a whole. However, in doing so they would also drive up the demand for 2009 Series One and Two Baseball, 2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball and 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Hockey. The hobby's love of short printed cards could easily catapult these products into a previously unattainable degree of success.
Stay tuned to The Cardboard Connection for new developments in this ongoing battle of the trading card giants.
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