Baseball card dispute resolved after 11 years

Search

Another Day, Another Dollar
Joined
Mar 1, 2002
Messages
42,730
Tokens
Cardtoons LC, an Oklahoma company that made parody trading cards featuring major league baseball players, has lost its suit -- finally -- against the Major League Baseball Players Association.

A federal appeals court last week affirmed a lower court ruling in favor of the association, which was represented by Kansas City-based Shughart Thomson & Kilroy. The law firm has long served as outside counsel for the association's licensing department.

"It's fair to say that I and the client are happy to put this one behind us," said Russell S. Jones Jr. of the firm.

The case dates to 1992, when Cardtoons was formed. It later contracted with Champs Marketing Inc. to print and distribute the parody cards.

In 1993, the association, acting as the licensing agent for active major league ballplayers, sent both companies a cease-and-desist letter threatening legal action if the cards were printed.

Cardtoons then sued the association in federal court, seeking a declaration that the cards didn't violate the association's publicity rights. It also sought damages for what it said was the association's wrongful interference with its contractual relations.

The court initially ruled in favor of the players association, finding that the cards did violate the association's publicity rights. But that was before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994 first recognized First Amendment "fair use" protection for commercial parody speech.

As a result, the trial court amended its judgment and entered a declaratory judgment in favor of Cardtoons. The company then pursued its claims for damages. The players association responded that its threats of litigation were immune from liability under what's known as the Noerr-Pennington doctrine.

That doctrine shields from antitrust liability those who attempt to use the power of government, including the courts, to further private ends. The doctrine, however, does not apply to litigation that aims to interfere with a competitor's business relationships.

The court agreed that the association was immune from liability, and a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. But after Cardtoons sought a rehearing before the full court, the 10th Circuit concluded that Noerr-Pennington applied only in antitrust contexts.

The appeals court then took up the issue of whether pre-litigation threats communicated solely between private parties are immune from suit under the First Amendment right to petition. The court held that the plain language of the First Amendment protects only petitions made to the government.

"A letter from one private party to another simply does not implicate the right to petition, regardless of what the letter threatens," the court wrote.

After the 10th Circuit handed down that decision, Shughart Thomson attorney Judy Heeter likened the case to a vampire.

"We've won three times," she said at the time, "but we can't seem to put that silver bullet through its heart. We tried it to a magistrate and won. We tried it to a district judge and won before he reversed himself. We tried it to the appeals court and won. And now this."

"This" consisted of the 10th Circuit sending the case back to the trial court yet again. As before, the players association moved for summary judgment. And as before, the trial court ruled in favor of the association.

Cardtoons appealed, leading to last week's final disposition of the case.

This time around, the 10th Circuit found conclusively in favor of the association, ruling that it had acted in good faith in threatening to take legal action against Cardtoons if Champs printed the cards.

"This was our fourth foray to the 10th Circuit," said Jones, sounding relieved the case was over. "It's a case that started out with a garden-variety effort by the Major League Baseball Players Association to stop someone from selling unlicensed playing cards. Instead, they sued us."

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/6352406.htm
 

Forum statistics

Threads
1,106,898
Messages
13,439,288
Members
99,339
Latest member
billcunninghamhomeloans
The RX is the sports betting industry's leading information portal for bonuses, picks, and sportsbook reviews. Find the best deals offered by a sportsbook in your state and browse our free picks section.FacebookTwitterInstagramContact Usforum@therx.com