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Courts curtail Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh! move

By Staff -- Playthings, 12/30/2008 8:26:00 AM

Courts in California and Holland have stopped Konami NORTH LAS VEGAS—Courts in California and Europe have denied Konami’s efforts to stop licensee The Upper Deck Co. from continuing to distribute its Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game.

Both victories clear the way for Upper Deck to continue distributing, marketing and selling Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG products in territories outside of Asia.

“Upper Deck is very pleased with today’s rulings,” said Upper Deck executive Bernd Becker on December 27. “We look forward to continuing the superior game support that we’ve been delivering to worldwide Yu-Gi-Oh! players for the last seven years."

Earlier this month Konami Digital Entertainment announced it was taking back all operational and business aspects of Upper Deck’s 8-year-old trading card game immediately.

In its suit, Upper Deck alleged that after the 2005 merger of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s original rights licensor, Konami Marketing, with Konami Digital Entertainment, the newly created Konami entity failed to negotiate new terms for Upper Deck's continued marketing and sale of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG despite the two parties having signed a letter of intent in September 2006 that obligated Konami to do so. Upper Deck further argued in its suit that that Konami "never intended to enter into a formal distribution agreement with Upper Deck" yet used the contractual promise of the letter of intent to "induce...Upper Deck into entering into the LOI and performing consistent therewith, including the expenditure of significant time and effort to the enterprise which was the subject of the LOI."

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