Update: Following this, legal advisor for Ravensburger Brian Lewis said in a statement that "Ravensburger has an extremely strong case here, and we hope it will be dismissed outright... While we respect the valid intellectual property rights of others, this appears to be more of a PR stunt than a genuine legal dispute. I also want to add that I’ve had the great fortune to know Ryan Miller personally for over 20 years and consider him to be a person of the highest ethical standards."
Original story follows.
Following the Disney Lorcana publisher being sued for allegedly "stealing" another card game earlier this week, Ravensburger North America Sr. Communications Director Lisa Krueger provided a follow-up statement to GamesRadar+ and other outlets. Krueger's statement says that the lawsuit is "entirely without merit."
"We at Ravensburger stand behind the integrity of our team and the originality of our products. The baseless claims filed this week are entirely without merit, and we look forward to proving this in due time. In the meantime, our focus continues to be on developing and launching a fantastic game in August."
This response comes after rival publisher Upper Decks alleged in a complaint that its as-yet unannounced game, 'Rush of Ikorr', was "repackaged and marketed" as Disney Lorcana by Ravensburger (which is known for creating board games and puzzles). It also claimed that designer Ryan Miller, who it said used to work on Rush of Ikorr for Upper Decks, used that knowledge to develop Lorcana and that the two games are "nearly identical."
Along with damages, Upper Decks is seeking "injunctive relief enjoining Ravensburger from publicly releasing Lorcana." This would stop the card game from being launched.
It's been an up-and-down week for Ravensburger. The lawsuit follows the company announcing the addition of Oogie Boogie and The Nightmare Before Christmas to the Villainous board game.
