Disney Lorcana publisher being sued for allegedly "stealing" another card game

An Illumineer uses The Great Illuminary in Disney Lorcana

(Image credit: Ravensburger)

Update: After the Disney Lorcana publisher called the lawsuit "entirely without merit," 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."

The original story can be seen below.

In a press release, it was announced that Upper Deck (the company behind card games like Legendary, Vs. System, Dark Legacy, and more) would be seeking legal action against board games company Ravensburger and a former Upper Deck designer for "stealing and copying Upper Deck’s original game which Ravensburger repackaged and marketed as Lorcana." More specifically, the complaint suggests that the rules for Disney Lorcana and an unannounced game from Upper Decks called 'Rush of Ikorr' are "nearly identical."

According to the complaint, designer Ryan Miller worked on Rush of Ikorr before using that information to develop Disney Lorcana at Ravensburger. More specifically, "Miller had direct access to Upper Deck’s confidential, proprietary information, including, without limitation, Rush of Ikorr draft rules, concepts, components, designs, marketing strategies, and plans for implementation. On information and belief, Miller maintained access to these things even after terminating his relationship with Upper Deck and used, referenced, and/or otherwise relied on them to create Lorcana for Ravensburger."

According to the complaint, Upper Decks is seeking damages as well as "injunctive relief enjoining Ravensburger from publicly releasing Lorcana." To translate, this would prohibit Ravensburger from launching Disney Lorcana.

"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," says Upper Deck president Jason Masherah after noting that "we invested significant time and resources to develop a new and novel trading card game. Our current leadership values the importance of protecting intellectual property of both Upper Deck and its licensors."

An official Ravensburger spokesperson told GamesRadar+ that "Ravensburger has not been served with a complaint and thus cannot speculate on potential legal matters. We at Ravensburger stand behind the integrity of our team and the originality of our products."

Since then, the Disney Lorcana publisher has called lawsuit alleging its design was stolen "entirely without merit".

It's been a mixed week for Ravensburger - this follows the announcement that one of the best Disney movies is finally coming to the Villainous board game.