Results tagged ‘ Panini-America ’
Upper Deck Lawsuits, Book 3 Chapter 1
Upper Deck sued AGAIN? That is what I heard. No, not Topps or Konami, but rather the MLB/MLBPA. This is by word of mouth, so I don’t have much credibility to if this is true or not.
So I have heard, that Upper Deck was using MLB Logos in their new 2010 baseball set. This poses a bad state for them… because Topps is the only one that can do that. I was right… A base, baseball set cannot survive without logos, apparently UD thought the same thing.
But aside from that, something more disturbing has crossed my path…
According to some people (again I don’t know if this is true,) but through the grapevine someone has found out that Upper Deck’s jersey cards are fake, or a great portion of them at least. Over half is said to be store bought jerseys instead of game used.
If that isn’t the most shocking thing…
Think you have an Upper Deck Babe Ruth cut autograph? Think again. It is also said that Upper Deck is forgeing some of the games greatest stars and putting them on cardboard. I haven’t heard so much on the living players who sign on card and who sign stickers, but some of those may be fake as well, if everything I am hearing is true.
My personal opinion on the fakes? I have done some simple research, and nothing I found has come up saying “Upper Deck fakes cards” but I honestly don’t know. I watched a short video on fake memerobilia, and in that video, a well-known autograph forger, had thought something was fishy about a Babe Ruth autograph. PSA confirmed it was fake, but according to the guy who ran the ring that forged it, it was one of his guys. So I believe fakes are floating out there, but it might not be UD’s dirtywork. This is the third time Upper Deck has been in trouble in not too short a time. Remember the Topps lawsuit? Over O-Pee-Chee designs? Maybe a more recent one. Konami. Both trials have ended and I have never heard what the settlements were.
People are again chanting bankruptcy, but will it actually happen? It might. I cannot say if it will or not, because this is at least the second time in a year (as far as time span goes) that we have all heard it. I am honestly pulling for UD.
Why would I say that?
If UD goes, the only company holding Topps back is Panini-America, which is a rookie company in America. Topps has poor customer service/quality control, and they use the same ideas over and over. The only way to keep them contained is keeping the other big boy in there with him. Razor, TriStar, Just Minors, and Press Pass could care less what happens to the big boys, let alone stop them.
So yeah. It is a windy road that has come upon UD, but hey… I get to practice writing everytime this happens…
I will try and keep the readers posted… but for know this is what I know
Special Collector’s Corner Edition Report: End of Upper Deck Upon Us?
A story broke today that Upper Deck was caught red-handed counterfeiting the famous Yu-Gi-Oh! card game cards that Konami apparently owns. Upper Deck used to produce the popular cards but recently lost them. Upper Deck slid past a lawsuit from Topps, where they claimed that Upper Deck was using some of Topps’ designs on there cards (O-Pee-Chee inserts) this year. Upper Deck was cleared of that, but this is much bigger, and if the lawsuit works for Konami, Upper Deck would be paying a hefty fine. This fine could bring down the entire company.
So what does this exactly mean to collector’s? Well, Upper Deck was slapped with some pretty big losses, such as the loss to produce licesnsed basketball and baseball products. They did however, manage to score the Collegiate market, which in itself is small. But because of that gain, as far as I know, the small, but trustworthy college football card producer SA-GE is out of buisness. Many collector’s are now wondering how good Upper Deck’s game used and autograph abilities are. Will this lawsuit unlock what is behind closed doors?
For those who don’t know, game used cards are pieces of game used equipment put into cards. These are starting to be questioned by every company in the game except for the ones below the radar.
What does it mean for the value of overall cards? Well if Upper Deck goes out of buisness, it’s last set (whatever that would be at the time) would probably be sought after, since it is the last one. If it is found out that we are all holding counterfeit game used? The price will surely drop dramatically.
But what about the counterfeit game cards that Upper Deck produced? Surely, I would think they would be a collector’s item, since after all, those 600,000 pieces of paper may put one company out buisness. There are ways to find out what the difference is, I might research just for fun on that one day.
So what does it mean for the possibly remaining big two, Panini – America and Topps? The collegiate market and hockey market would have to find new homes. But it would make Panini-America the sole producer of licensed football cards, since Topps can’t produce them anymore.
I know more is to come, so I will keep everyone posted on developments to come.
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