Yes, 2025 is the year for lawsuits. There’s everything going on with Diamond’s chapter 11, lawsuits against AI, and now Wild Card is suing Panini America.
Wild Card is a Tennessee-based trading card company and they’re alleging Panini attempted to push Wild Card out of the market. The allegations include that Panini used its market power to enter into unlawful contracts as well as conspiracies with distributors and manufacturers.
Panini is accused of calling out Wild Card by name and threatened distributors carrying Wild Card that they’d have their access to Panini cut off or have their allocations decreased. Wild Card claims it was a move to block the card manufacturer from distribution and production channels.
The lawsuit is seeking monetary damages as well as relief prohibiting Panini from conditioning allocations, pricing, programs, rebates, promotions, or other benefits for refusal to carry Wild Card or any other card manufacturer. It would also prevent retaliation against distributors.
Panini is embroiled in another court battle against Fanatics that has been going on for more than two years accusing Fanatics of anticompetitive behavior and monopolization of the sports card industry. Fanatics has acquired the exclusive rights to the NBA, NFL, MLB, Premier League, F1, WWE, and more.
Panini has cards for football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf, MMA, Nascar, and more.
The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Texas. Panini America is based in Irving, Texas.
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Source: Graphic Policy
