Category Archives: upper deck lawsuit weekly

While I Was Out: Upper Deck Lays Off Entertainment Employees

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I know there are a lot of people out there who hate Upper Deck, but people losing jobs is never something to celebrate. Honestly, this move was expected, as the Entertainment division is slowly becoming obsolete after the Konami lawsuit was settled. The next division to take a hit is likely the baseball part of UD’s operations, as many of the goals that were on the list are no longer able to be accomplished.

When it comes down to financials, its still unclear how bad it actually is for Upper Deck. Rumors are flying like boogers after a sneeze, but its rare that a company would ever give us advanced notice of any problems. I still believe that UD will continue to have its crew of footballers at full strength, as the brand seems to be running pretty normally. As for Hockey and Basketball, I see little evidence that things will be slowing down, even if Panini ends up with a license.
Is UD out of the storm quite yet? Yes and no. Financial instability will always be a question whenever a problem comes up, but I doubt its as big of a factor as some of the skeptics out there are making it out to be at this particular moment. The future is yet to be seen, however, and things could easily change instantaneously.
Regardless of how you feel about the company, I would hate to imagine how many families would be saddled with huge problems if Upper Deck closed its doors. I will say that a lot of this could have been prevented with better business ethics, and that is something the brass at UD will have to live with for a long, long time.

Percy Harvin and Upper Deck – Rumors are Rumors

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It seems like a lot of people have heard the rumors that Percy Harvin is done with UD over a money situation or something similar. I wouldnt be so quick to jump on the bandwagon, as I have not seen any reason to believe that this rumor is true.

I contacted Upper Deck to get a comment on the situation, and they gave me a pretty staunch response that he will sign when they can catch up with him. They denied any money issues between them and any football players with outstanding stuff, and were confident that they would be able to redeem the cards soon.
Of course, this could be a line from the people who stand to lose out if Harvin is indeed feuding over money with them, but I still file this under pure speculation. It was a rumor started by a user on Blowout’s forum, and yet people are taking it as gospel. Although Baseball and UDE are done over in Carlsbad, I would believe that the football side should not have many problems that would lead to a situation like this.
People have cited the cancellation of UD Draft Football as a sign of the Upper Deck apocalypse, but I think it was more of a positioning mechanism for the newly revamped Sweet Spot, and an issue of redundancy and low sales from last year. Plus, when the CLC license kicks in at the end of next month, its going to be tough for any other company to compete with a product like Sweet Spot while not infringing on copyrights.
Basically, my suggestion is simple. If you like Harvin and want to pick up some of his stuff, but are afraid of the rumors, then wait. Despite the fact that speculation doesnt usually turn into anything when it comes to players signing their shit, you can easily wait for the live cards to show up. However, if you do wait, expect a 20-30% premium on the live cards due to the popularity of Harvin and the popularity of SPA. If 100 bucks isnt that big of a deal to you, and you pulled the card or got it another way, there is not a reason yet to say that the rumors are even close to being true. Either way, you should get a nice replacement even if he doesnt sign.
Personally, I dont see much change coming in the way Upper Deck functions in football. They have made investments in the prosperity of this brand, and I think they will pay off. There will be hiccups like UD Draft, but Im not afraid at this point, regardless of speculation. They may have laid off much of their now defunct UDE brand, and baseball is probably next, but trimming the fat will be necessary when there is nothing going on in those arenas.
As for Harvin, dont let message board speculation get the best of you. However, as always, patience is a virtue if you can afford it.

Upper Deck Cancels Its Baseball Calendar

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As expected due to the lawsuit, Upper Deck is out of baseball, at least for 2010. I just got a copy of an email from a distributor who had let me know that the four or so baseball products that UD was planning are no longer going to be available. This includes:

2010 Upper Deck Goudey Baseball
2010 Upper Deck SPX Baseball
2010 Upper Deck SP Authentic Baseball
2010 Upper Deck Exquisite Baseball

Although Exquisite isnt really a product, it was going to be included in all of the baseball products for the year. Sadly for a lot of the people who like quality high end products, all of these are done for the first time in almost a decade.
Listen, I get that there are a lot of people who HATE Upper Deck, but you have to admit that its pretty shocking to see a year go by without SPX and SPA baseball. Goudey was also a collector favorite that will not be produced, thus confirming how much collectors have really “won” per that uninformed and arrogant MLBP rep.
Regardless of how you feel about UD, its sad to see a year go by with no competition against Topps. So glad that products like the horrid high end sets they produce have no reason to get better. 2010 Triple Threads – Now more like 2009 Triple Threads! YAY!

BREAKING NEWS: Upper Deck and MLBP Settle Lawsuit

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Well, the Upper Deck Lawsuit Bonanza is over.

I have just received an email from a source close to the case that MLBP and Upper Deck have reached a settlement in the case of the (non) missing logos. Although the details are sparse at this moment, I think we are going to hear very quickly what this means for Upper Deck baseball and football products.

The great thing is that when two parties settle, it usually is an amount that would not cripple either side. I think this could come as a great outcome for UD, but it all depends on the money. Who knows, this may be something that just prevented a bigger loss from happening. This means there is still a good probability that bad news is coming.
Here are some more details that I just received from my source.
Looks like UD owes money for some 2009 licensing fees that were never paid. They also owe some money (probably a percentage of the sales) on the three sets released post license. They are prevented from putting out further cards of anyone that violates the licensing agreement with Topps. Obviously a no brainer there. They cannot produce cards with airbrushing or blurring of logos as long as the person is still in uniform (Wow – that is huge).
So, basically UD is out of baseball, and they owe MLBP some money. Not horrible, it could be A LOT worse. Im guessing the settlement is a best case scenario, because MLBP wanted to protect their interests and UD wanted to stay in business. I would expect that after this Football will have to be the bread and butter, and with cutbacks, the company could survive on that, basketball, and CLC.
Topps may have a stranglehold on baseball, but if the guy from MLBP is thinking that this is a good thing for all collectors to “clearly identify official Major League Baseball trading cards without any confusion” he is sadly fucking mistaken. We arent fucking idiots. They should not be able to put this victory on our shoulders, as we will lose more than just cards in this. This is about MLBP’s money, first and foremost, and for him to arrogantly exclaim that we are the winners is total fucking donkey shit. Personally, I really dont care THAT much about UD baseball, as I am primarily a football collector, but to treat us in this fashion is arrogance known only by the douchebags over at Beckett.
We lose out on sets we love, sets we collect, and cards we would normally collect, and he is happy because we can tell the difference? Cmon, that matters not to us. Most people were actually much happier with Ultimate because of the way it was done, so for the MLBP to say that we are the ones that won, doesnt make sense.
For a lot of us, we put heart and soul into collections that will now be thinner and less complete because our favorite sets will not be a part of it. Upper Deck had a huge following, and I am happy that the MLBP guy believes that we are better off now that licensing is clearer than posting it three different places on a box. What crap.
I hope this is the last I hear about this.