Wild Card, a Tennessee-based trading card manufacturer known for its autographed cards featuring top athletes and celebrities, filed an antitrust lawsuit Thursday against industry giant Panini America.
Wild Card is alleging Panini used anticompetitive conduct and monopolization in an attempt to push Wild Card out the market. In the lawsuit, Wild Card alleges that Panini leveraged its market power to enter into unlawful contracts, combinations and conspiracies with distributors and manufacturers. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Panini America is based in Irving, Texas.
“We’re a small business in this industry. We have to push back on behalf of small businesses and of our small family-owned and operated business,” Wild Card CEO Daniel Atkins told The Athletic on Thursday. “We’re very passionate about what we do and we try to deliver the best product with the best value. And we believe that we have been armed and blocked from competing fairly on a level playing field by Panini.”
Panini hasn’t responded to a request for comment concerning the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, one distributor who attended Panini’s annual meeting told Wild Card that Panini called out Wild Card by name and warned distributors carrying Wild Card products that Panini would cut off or downgrade access to card allocations. Wild Card also alleges Panini threats “effectively blocked Wild Card’s access to essential distribution and production channels required to compete.”
“All we want is an opportunity to compete with the same set of rules,” Atkins said. “And we put up our team against anyone’s team as long as there’s a fair set of rules that we all can live by. We feel like we haven’t gotten a fair shake. It’s been obviously unfair to us and it’s harmed our business in many ways. … Our story is true and honest and that’s all we want. We can’t get a fair shake in the market, but I believe we can get a fair shake in a court of law.”
Among unspecified monetary damages, Wild Card is also seeking injunctive relief prohibiting Panini from conditioning allocations, pricing, programs, rebates, promotions, or other benefits on refusal to carry Wild Card (or any rival), and from threatening or retaliating against distributors or manufacturers for dealing with Wild Card.
This latest lawsuit adds another legal fight for Panini as its court battle with Fanatics has been ongoing for more than two years with suits and countersuits from each side. Panini is accusing Fanatics of anticompetitive behavior and monopolization of the sports card industry after Fanatics acquired exclusive licensing rights from the NBA and NFL previously held by Panini to pair with its exclusive licenses for MLB, the Premier League, F1, WWE and others.
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