Disney Lorcana publisher taps famed Magic: The Gathering lawyer in Upper Deck lawsuit

polygon.com:

Ravensburger, publisher of the highly-anticipated new Disney Lorcana trading card game, has issued a formal response to a lawsuit by competitor Upper Deck. In it, the game and toy manufacturer calls Upper Deck’s lawsuit “the legal equivalent of alchemy” and demands that it be dismissed outright. The announcement, made Thursday in a news release, includes a 34-page legal response. But it also name drops one of the most potent legal minds in the rarefied realm of TCG law, Brian Lewis, whose work as the general counsel at Wizards of the Coast helped pave the way for the current dominance of Magic: The Gathering — but also the larger ecosystem of modern trading card games more generally.

To get you up to speed on the issues at hand, understand that Upper Deck’s lawsuit landed with quite a dramatic thud when it was revealed on June 7. In it, the California-based publisher of sports cards, games, and trading cards alleges that Disney Lorcana co-designer Ryan Miller had previously created a similar game that is “nearly identical” to Disney Lorcana while under contract with Upper Deck. It also asks that the launch of the game, set for August this year, be stopped with an injunction.

Ravensburger vehemently disputes Upper Decks’ claims. In it’s response, Ravensburger even calls into question both the timing and the venue of the lawsuit itself. Taken altogether, it paints Upper Deck’s efforts to design a competing TCG as lazy, and its legal wrangling as wholly opportunistic.

“Upper Deck claims it would have sought the return of confidential information and/or prevented its employees from communicating with Mr. Miller if it was aware of Mr. Miller’s employment at Ravensburger and the company’s work on a competing TCG,” reads the