UDC v. Miller

UDC v. Miller is a lawsuit filed by Craig M. Nicholas, Shaun Markley, and Jordan Belcastro on behalf of “The Upper Deck Company” (better known as Upper Deck), against Disney Lorcana designer Ryan Miller, and Ravensburger North America. Filed on June 7, 2023 with the Superior Court of California – County of San Diego, the 19-page complaint accuses Miller, who formerly worked at Upper Deck, of stealing the concept for a trading card game called “Rush of Ikorr”.

Upper Deck alleges this concept was turned into Disney Lorcana: “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, Miller transported his work product on Rush of Ikorr, knowing such work product was owned solely by Upper Deck, into a trading card game called “Disney Lorcana”.”

They claim Lorcana's starting hand size, keywords, resource system, win condition, and certain card abilities are very similar to those in Rush of Ikorr. Specifically, they claim Lorcana’s Inkwell (where players place cards from their hand upside down, allowing them to be used to summon other cards onto the field) is similar to Rush of Ikorr's “Influence Zone”, which supposedly uses a similar mechanic.

In addition to this, Upper Deck claims that “Miller’s acts in pilfering the game design Upper Deck paid him to create and using those designs to develop a competing trading card game for a competitor were aided and encouraged by Ravensburger, who now seeks to profit from the stolen intellectual property.”

Upper Deck also put out a statement: “At Upper Deck, we take pride in the creative choices made to design and develop our games, collectibles and memorabilia. We are suing Ravensburger and a previous Upper Deck game designer who have stolen and copied an original game we developed to repackage and market as Lorcana.”

Upper Deck President, Jason Masherah, said "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.", and "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.”

When asked for comment by ComicBook.com, a Ravensburger spokesperson said that "Ravensburger has not been served with a complaint and thus cannot speculate on potential legal matters. We at Ravensburger stand behind the integrity of our team and the originality of our products.”

# External Links

* UDC v. Miller Complaint

Articles:

* ComicBook.com Article: Ravensburger Responds to Disney Lorcana Lawsuit
* Gizmodo Article: Upper Deck Sues Ravensburger Over Allegedly Stolen Disney Game
* Mushu Report Article: Ravensburger Responds to Upper Deck Complaint
* Mushu Report Article: Upper Deck Sues Ravensburger Over Lorcana
* Polygon Article: Disney Lorcana launch threatened by Upper Deck lawsuit
* TheGamer Article: Disney Lorcana Publisher And Co-Designer Sued For "Stealing And Copying" Another Game

Videos:

* Alpha Investments’ Video: UPPER DECK SAYS LORCANA WAS STOLEN PROPERTY
* Podcana’s Video: Podcana #11 | Legal Analysis of Upper Deck vs Ravensburger Complaint
* Sports Cards Live‘s Video: LAWSUIT! Upper Deck president explains Lorcana situation
* The Illumiteers’ Video: DON'T PANIC | We spoke to a Lawyer
* The Illumiteers’ Video: Let's Talk Lorcana feat. Lawyer Paul Lesko
* Wossy Plays’ Video: Lorcana is Being SUED by Upper Deck! Could This Stop the Launch!? (HUGE Disney Lorcana News)

Parties Involved:

* Craig M. Nicholas Biography (Nicholas & Tomasevic LLP. Website)
* Jordan Belcastro Biography (Nicholas & Tomasevic LLP. Website)
* Shaun Markley Biography (Nicholas & Tomasevic LLP. Website)