Upper Deck-Panini lawsuit examines Michael Jordan cameos

If you look closely at the Holo parallels of Scottie Pippen's 2017-18 Donruss Optic Retro Series insert cards, you will see something that's a key in a new lawsuit between Upper Deck and Panini America. 

It's a lawsuit that a lot of collectors are talking about over on the Blowout Forums and the player in the background appears to be Hall of Famer and UD-exclusive player Michael Jordan.

In its trademark infringement suit, Upper Deck alleged that "Panini deliberately altered and manipulated Jordan's image into the background of multiple Panini trading cards in two trading card releases to gratuitously lend on the tremendous international brand equity and goodwill of Michael Jordan who is not only one of the greatest NBA players of all time, but a current NBA owner."

Since Jordan is an exclusive spokesman and endorser to its company, Upper Deck said it's an issue.

"Upper Deck is the only trading card manufacturer that has ever had a license agreement for trading cards with Michael Jordan," its lawsuit states. "Yet, Panini recently willfully interfered with Upper Deck's agreement with Jordan in order to generate illicit profit from his image without Upper Deck's knowledge or consent."

That same photo was used in the previously released 2017-18 Donruss set with the photo slid slightly to the right to crop what is alleged to be Jordan out of the photo. The image does not appear to be manipulated to add the background player if you compare the scoreboards above that area at the top of the photo on both cards and Pippen's foot in comparison to the Retro Series logo. The player alleged to be Jordan also doesn't appear as brightly on the standard version of the Optic card. It's unclear how prominent that small area of the card is on the other seven parallels in Optic.

Despite its claim of "deliberately" altering images, Upper Deck does acknowledge later in its suit that Jordan was cropped out of the Donruss card but claims the Optic crop "cleverly and purposely features Jordan" a move that it says can be seen to  "significantly enhancing the value of this higher-end release and Panini's brand."

It's not the only background appearance for Jordan in a card released the last few years.

All versions of the 2018-19 Panini Contenders Winning Tickets cards for Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman also show Jordan in the background along with the crowd with the foilboard accenting only accentuating Rodman as part of the design. That background is definitive in that Jordan appears with his face and his No. 23 showing on the card.

On this card, Upper Deck's suit claims "Panini committed another similar deceptive offense" with its release and claims "the background of this Contenders card caught more consumer interest and excitement than the subject because the background prominently and intentionally featured Jordan."

What does it mean to collectors -- beyond message board chatter with some added jabs here and there and modest/arguable value bumps that are perhaps enhanced by the attention of these legal battles? Well, it could have consequences.

Buzz is not 100-percent familiar with all rules set out in Upper Deck's authorized distributor agreement, but our understanding is that distributors who are approved to sell its products are not allowed to also sell, at Upper Deck's sole discretion, products that infringe on UD's intellectual property rights. It's unclear if, how or how soon that might be enforced in relation to this lawsuit that was filed on Wednesday.

Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

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