Family Life

03.04.10 | FL News Team

A trademark infringement lawsuit that put Major League Baseball and card maker Upper Deck at loggerheads has been settled. Upper Deck will pay a significant amount of money for unlicensed cards it put out this year. MLB yanked the company's license to use team logos and uniforms on its cards last October. It granted an exclusive license to rival Topps. MLB cried foul ball in February after Upper Deck released three baseball card series, the 2009 Signature Stars, 2009 Ultimate Collection and 2010 Upper Deck Series One. Although team trademarks were taken off packages and card designs, the company failed to airbrush out team logos on hats and uniforms of the players who appeared on the cards.

 The objective in granting the exclusive license to Topps is to boost baseball trademark value by making card makers bid for exclusive rights. MLB Properties reveals portions of the deal with Upper Deck will have the company pay two-point-four-million dollars in license fees for 2009 cards. It also is banned from making any new sets of cards using MLB logos, uniforms or color combinations. Upper Deck still has licensing deals in place with the NFL, NHL and college sports.