Upper Deck Suing Ravensburger Over Disney Lorcana

boardgamequest.com:

One of the most anticipated games coming out this year is Disney Lorcana from veteran publisher Ravenburger. Tickets for events and Gen Con were selling like hotcakes as everyone wants to see what this latest game is all about. Well, it seems that the game won’t be without its drama, as publisher Upper Deck announced today (via a press release) that they are suing Ravensburger and a previous Upper Deck game designer Ryan Miller for “stealing and copying Upper Deck’s original game which Ravensburger repackaged and marketed as Lorcana.”

From the press release: “We invested significant time and resources to develop a new and novel trading card game. Our current leadership values the importance of protecting intellectual property of both Upper Deck and its licensors,” said Upper Deck President Jason Masherah. “We want gamers and fans to continue enjoying and having access to unique, innovative and immersive trading card games,” added Masherah. “We encourage competition in the industry, but also strongly believe in playing by the rules to ensure the gaming community benefits from the different creative choices by each manufacturer.”

We obtained a copy of the court brief, and reading through it, found some interesting tidbits:

INTRODUCTION 1. Upper Deck seeks to protect its intellectual property from premeditated theft by Miller. On a work for hire basis, Upper Deck engaged Miller as lead game designer to develop a major proprietary trading card game for Upper Deck called “Rush of Ikorr.” After over a year of developing Rush of Ikorr alongside Upper Deck, Miller terminated his contract with Upper Deck and, either before termination or just after, began working for Defendant Ravensburger, a direct competitor. At Ravensburger,