The Topps Company (“Topps”) is suing fellow baseball trading card manufacturer Leaf Trading Cards (“Leaf”) for copyright and trademark infringement in a lawsuit recently filed in federal court (The Topps Company, Inc. v. Leaf Trading Cards, LLC, USDC SDNY, No. 11-civ-5585). Topps claims that Leaf does not have the right to use pictures of old Topps cards featuring the company’s logos and players it has under exclusive contract. The dispute arose over Leaf’s recent advertisement for its “2011 Leaf Best of Baseball” product. The Best of Baseball pack, available to collectors, consists of one Leaf-created cut signature card and a PSA or BGS graded and authenticated card previous issued by various other manufacturers. Some of the cards included in the packs are a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, a 1972 Carlton Fisk rookie, a 2001 Albert Pujols rookie, as well as cards autographed by teenage phenom Bryce Harper. One-pack boxes have been selling at retail for $235-275.
In addition to Topps’ claim that it owns the copyrights of the images on the cards and the logos, Topps further claims that it owns the rights to the player’s names and autographs. In its complaint, Topps asserts that Leaf’s sell sheet is a “blatant attempt at capitalizing on Topps’ goodwill and intellectual property to advertise and promote Leaf’s product” (Complaint ¶48). On the packaging of its product Leaf included a disclaimer about the cards that are pictured at the bottom of the sell sheet. Despite Leaf’s disclaimer, Topps asserts the use of its pictures will cause confusion in the marketplace stating: “[w]ithout exclusivity, the license’s value is highly diminished, both to Topps and the exclusive players.”
In deciding this issue a judge must determine how far Topps’ rights extend with regard to products that were previously released and now are being repackaged for customers.
http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/topps-sues-leaf-over-2011-best-of-baseball-sell-sheet/