Upper Deck, which is located in Carlsbad, California, is filing suit against Ravensburger and a former Upper Deck game designer “for stealing and copying Upper Deck’s original game which Ravensburger repackaged and marketed as Lorcana“.
From the press release announcing this action:
“We want gamers and fans to continue enjoying and having access to unique, innovative and immersive trading card games,” added Masherah. “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.”
Upper Deck plans to file suit in San Diego against the game designer for “breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud” and against Ravensburger for “unfair business practices”.
The designer isn’t named, but of the two designers of Disney Lorcana, as best as I can tell Steve Warner has not worked with Upper Deck, whereas Ryan Miller has three designs published by Upper Deck: Dread Draw and Pack of Lies in 2017, and Aliens: Bug Hunt in 2020.
Regarding the “new and novel trading card game” mention in the press release, a representative for Upper Deck tells me, “We are referring to a design developed internally that we are still working on and intend to release.”
Sample card from Disney Lorcana
