The drama between Upper Deck and Ravensburger over the former’s claims that the latter “seeks to profit from […] stolen property” in their new game Disney Loricana continues. This time, Ravensburger has issued a motion to dismiss Upper Deck’s lawsuit and called it “more of a PR stunt than a genuine legal dispute”.
What’s the Story So Far?
Ravensburger is one of the biggest creators of trading card games with the company starting way back in the 1980, becoming a staple producer of many popular series. With such a diverse portfolio as working on WoW TCGs and producing sports memorabilia, the company is set to launch a new Disney-inspired game this summer. Disney Lorcana should be released in August, but it seems this may be delayed as Ravensburger is currently locked in a legal battle with another publisher over the new game.
Upper Deck Entertainment, best known for releasing the Legendary series of deckbuilding games, filed a complaint against Ravensburger and Ryan Miller, co-designer of Disney Lorcana, earlier last month. The company claimed Lorcana’s creators “seeks to profit from stolen property” owned by Upper Deck.
Upper Deck’s main point of contention is that Miller “transported his work” on an upcoming game set to be published by Upper Deck, called Rush of Ikorr. According to the company, the game designer had attended a “gaming summit” where he allegedly signed a “Summit Agreement”, which stated that Upper Deck “would own and hold all rights to use” whatever was created during the summit. In addition, the agreement required “confidentiality” from the designer “even after termination or satisfaction of the contract”.
However, Miller apparently ended his contract with Upper Deck in late 2021, having worked on Rush of Ikorr for about two years. But Upper Deck claims that Miller “maintained access” to “confidential, proprietary information” about Ikorr. According to the company, the game designer “allowed Ravensburger to gain a competitive advantage”. Now, Upper Deck is seeking “general and special damages,” from Ravensburger and also wants to prevent Ravensburger from publishing Disney Lorcana.
How Did Ravensburger React?
What followed was a quick response by Ravensburger, which claimed Upper Deck Entertainment’s claims to be “baseless”. Now, a few weeks after that, Lisa Krueger, Ravensbuger’s senior communications director, released a statement saying that the company will proceed forward with the legal case and plans to release the game despite it.
“We’re glad to be moving forward with the legal process and feel very confident in our position,” the statement reads. “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.”
One of the company’s legal advisors, Brian Lewis, also recently stated that Ravensburger has a strong case and hopes Upper Deck’s complaint to be dismissed based on the evidence provided. He also claims that the current case seems to be “more of a PR stunt than a genuine legal dispute.”
What Is Ravensburger’s Case?
Ravensburger also outlined in a dismissal motion document the reasons why the case should be closed based on three main arguments. According to the paper, a “discovery will show Upper Deck’s Complaint to be a strained and clumsy effort to slow down a competitor,” and that “Upper Deck’s laundry-list of claims fails as a matter of law, even under the most basic level of scrutiny.”
According to Ravensburger, Upper Deck’s claims that Miller is making a “near-identical game” to Rush of Ikorr is baseless. “Even a cursory review of the two games would show that Ravensburger’s game—which is based on Disney characters, and was in the works long before Mr. Miller joined the company—is nothing like Upper Deck’s card game,” the paper reads.
Furthermore, according to Ravensburger, Miller never worked on a game called Rush of Ikorr before becoming a co-designer for Disney Lorcana. Instead, the company claims that the game designer was “retained by Upper Deck to collaborate and develop a TCG known to Mr. Miller as ‘Shell Beach’.”
In addition, Ravensburger responded to Upper Deck’s claims surrounding apparent similarities between Rush of Ikorr and Disney Lorcana. According to the company, it should not be surprising that the mechanics of play include many basic commonalities across games” because they are both TCGs.
It is still unknown what the whole case will lead to, but if it is dropped, then Disney Lorcana will likely be released at this year’s Gen Con event, which takes place between August 3 and 6. If that goes well, fans may expect a wider release a few weeks later on August 18.