The dispute comes down to licensing rights for professional sports league and their associated trading cards: Panini currently has the league and player union licenses to produce trading cards for the NBA and NFL.
It's held those exclusive rights since 2009 and 2016, respectively.
In its antitrust suit against Fanatics, Panini alleged that "Fanatics positioned itself to drive Panini and other potential competitors out of the market, and erected barriers to entry blocking their return."
Fanatics claims Panini "embarked on a protracted, unlawful, and deceitful campaign of unfair trade practices, strong-arm tactics, and tortious misconduct to hamper Fanatics Collectibles' nascent business, in the hopes that it could force Fanatics Collectibles to pay an extortionate amount for Panini to terminate its licenses early."
The move also helped to terminate a SPAC merger for Topps after it lost the MLB rights.
Persons:
Brandon Igdalsky, Panini, countersued, It's, Silver
Organizations:
NASCAR, Pocono, Sports, NBA, NFL, Panini, International Olympic, MLB, Topps, Endeavor Group, Insight Partners, CNBC Disruptor
Locations:
Long Pond, PA