The Upper Deck Company, LLC (known colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the United Kingdom) is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. It was founded in 1988. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United States.
Upper Deck is also the current licensor of the O-Pee-Chee brand since 2007, having released several baseball and ice hockey card collections.
History
Paul Sumner created the Upper Deck concept in 1987. He worked in printing sales, as vice president of sales at Orbis Graphic in Anaheim, California, and came up with the idea for a premium card. When he heard about card counterfeiting, he realized he knew a way to protect cards. He had studied holograms in college and had used them in printing his company's brochures.
In late 1987, Sumner approached Richard McWilliam about creating "Architectural Digest-quality baseball cards." McWilliam was a businessman who had also played baseball in high school and college. Sumner’s boss, Boris Korbel, joined Sumner and McWilliam in setting out to produce a prototype to show dealers at national card shows. Sumner hired Robert Young Pelton to design and produce a prototype. Pelton did this for Upper Deck's first three-year rise. Pelton's agencies, Pelton & Associates and Digital Artists, were replaced by Chiat/Day.[citation needed]
On December 23, 1988, Upper Deck was granted a license by Major League Baseball (MLB) to produce baseball cards, and just two months later, on February 23, 1989, delivered its first two cases of baseball cards to George Moore of Tulsa's Baseball Card Store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its inaugural 1989 set stood out from other trading cards with its glossy fronts on heavy-duty cardboard (thicker than other card stocks), with an additional color photo on the back of each card and a counterfeit-proof tiny hologram marking. Upper Deck began selling packs for $0.99, more than double the price of a pack of Topps cards, and lacked "the traditional stick of bubble gum that would often stain the cards". Despite this, Upper Deck sold out its baseball cards midway through this inaugural year, then pre-sold its entire 1990 baseball stock before the year began. Upper Deck said "it purposely limited its initial 1989 production to just 1 million sets of each card" to help drive demand. Also, cards with misprints, such as the 1989 Atlanta Braves slugger Dale Murphy card with a reversed "rookie" designation and the 1990 Baltimore Oriole pitcher Ben McDonald card missing his "rookie" designation, were reselling for $150 and $100 each, respectively.
The 1990 set included the industry's first randomly inserted personally autographed and numbered cards of sports stars. All Upper Deck brands bear an exclusive trademark hologram, and Upper Deck was named "Card Set of the Year" every year from 1989 to 2004. Paul Sumner resigned with the understanding that he would be known as the "Co-Founder of Upper Deck," something the company's owner and CEO, McWilliam, recognized until McWilliam's death in 2013.[citation needed]
On March 20, 1990, Upper Deck received licenses from the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) to produce hockey cards. The company also obtained licenses from the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1990, making Upper Deck the first trading card company in 10 years to be licensed by all four leagues. Upper Deck quickly rivaled Topps, which had been considered the standard, and other competitors, such as Fleer, Donruss, and Score. Before the end of March, 1990 Upper Deck had gained a fourth partner, Richard Kughn, and grown from six employees to 250. By 1991, the company built a 250,000-square-foot (23,000m2) plant of brown marble and black glass on a hilltop 30 miles (48km) north of San Diego.
After Upper Deck introduced its premium baseball series, other companies followed with improved photography, better design, and higher-quality paper stock. The sports card market grew from $50 million in 1980, when Topps' monopoly was broken by Fleer, to a $1.5 billion industry in 1992. Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson served as an adviser in the early 1990s. Jackson would also serve as the inspiration for the first certified autograph card inserted into trading cards with the company's "Find the Reggie" campaign. A successful promotion for the Upper Deck brand, the triple portrait of Jackson remains an iconic image among baseball card collectors.
Upper Deck introduced their "Young Guns" rookie car brand in the 1990–91 hockey set as a subset of rookie cards. The first Young Guns set contained 550 cards, which were split into two series: Low Series (#1-400) and High Series (#401-550). Featured players included NHL All-Stars such as Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, Patrick Roy, andSteve Yzerman.
At the beginning of the 1992–93 NHL season, Upper Deck made Patrick Roy a spokesperson. Roy was also a hockey card collector, with more than 150,000 cards. An ad campaign was launched, and it had an adverse effect on Roy's season. Upper Deck had a slogan called "Trade Roy", which was posted on billboards throughout the city of Montreal. A Journal de Montreal poll, published on January 13, 1993, indicated that 57% of fans favored trading Patrick Roy. Before the trade deadline, Canadiens general manager Serge Savard insisted he would consider a trade for Roy. The Canadiens ended the season by winning only 8 of their last 19 games.
In 1992, Upper Deck launched Upper Deck Authenticated (UDA), "a memorabilia division that offered hologram-verified autographed items directly from athletes". A year later, in 1993, the company released SP Baseball, "the first widely recognized super-premium card product".
Upper Deck was also the first to insert swatches of game-used material into cards when it made jersey cards in 1997 UD Basketball. The insert set was called Game Jersey and a similar set followed in baseball the next year, where Upper Deck cut up game-used jerseys of Ken Griffey Jr., Tony Gwynn, and Rey Ordóñez.
In 1999, Upper Deck Company spent over $1.1 million in acquiring vintage baseball memorabilia items at the Barry Halper Collection auction held at Sotheby's in New York City. One of the items was a Ty Cobb jersey that Upper Deck paid $332,500 for. As part of a sweepstakes prize, it gave the jersey to 14-year-old Robert Shell of Milwaukee. At the time, the estimated tax Shell was going to pay on the prize was $125,000. The amount, his mother said, would force the family to sell the jersey.[citation needed]
Previous Upper Deck logo used until early 2008
2000s–2010s
In May 2005, Richard McWilliam was named the sports collectible industry's "most influential" person of the past 20 years at an annual trade convention in Hawaii. In addition to McWilliam's award, Upper Deck was recognized for the debut of its legendary 1989 baseball trading card set, which included the then 19-year-old centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr., as the "most influential" event of the past 20 years. The list of nominees was created and voted upon by the staff of conference organizers F+W Publications.
Upper Deck originally included the year of the trading card set's release on its logo, with the "19" above "Upper" and the last two digits of the year under "Deck" (but both inside the green diamond). This practice was dropped midway through the 1994 season.[citation needed] In 2008, Upper Deck retired the green diamond logo and replaced it with a new design that it could better use to market all of its products.
In 2009, Upper Deck introduced the Diamond Club, where members consist of the top individual purchasers and collectors of Upper Deck and Fleer brands throughout the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Criteria were that the members distinguished themselves by the amount of money spent and how they helped promote these products within the hobby and to other collectors. Members receive special promotional items and invitations to special events and an annual summit where they can share ideas with members of Upper Deck. Fewer than 125 members are chosen to be a part of the program each year.
On August 6, 2009, MLB announced it entered into a multi-year deal with Topps, giving it exclusive rights to produce MLB trading cards. Upper Deck would retain its rights to produce cards bearing player likenesses via its contract with the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) but would be unable to use team logos or other trademarked images. On February 1, 2010, MLB filed a federal lawsuit against Upper Deck for trademark infringement. A mutual settlement was announced on March 3, 2010, stating that Upper Deck could continue selling its three current baseball card series (2009 Signature Stars, 2009 Ultimate Collection, and 2010 Upper Deck Series One), although they were prohibited from using any MLB trademarks, including team logos and names, in any future baseball products. Despite this limitation, Upper Deck commented that they would still continue to produce baseball-related cards without using those trademarks.
On September 29, 2009, Upper Deck created the company's first-ever packs of Finnish- and Swedish-language Victory hockey cards.
On April 7, 2010, Upper Deck announced it would no longer be licensed to produce NFL trading cards. Upper Deck spokesperson Terry Melia posted on Twitter that, "UD was unable to come to terms with NFL Properties. No NFL Properties-licensed football cards from UD in 2010." Upper Deck owner Richard McWilliam said, "Over the past year, Upper Deck has attempted to negotiate a new licensing deal with NFL Properties. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were not able to reach agreeable terms, and therefore will not be issuing any NFL Properties-licensed trading cards for the 2010 season. Upper Deck will continue to focus on its exclusive license agreement with the Collegiate Licensing Company and co-exclusive agreements with NHL Enterprises and the NHL Players Association, as well as its multiple entertainment licenses."
In January 2013, after "the sudden and unexpected death" of McWilliam, Jason Masherah was named president of Upper Deck.
In May 2025, Upper Deck introduced a new authentication feature to help reduce fraud and "patch swapping". Starting with the release of the 2023–24 Upper Deck The Cup Hockey set, Rookie Patch Auto cards would include a slabbed case including a serial number and a scannable QR code.
In December 2025, Upper Deck extended its partnerships with Hockey Canada, renewing their licensing agreement, which had been active since 2012. Also in December, it was announced that Upper Deck had signed a multi-year agreement as an official partner of USA Hockey. Upper Deck would release its first-ever USA Hockey trading card set, which included athletes like Cole Eiserman, James Hagens, Cole Hutson, and Taylor Heise.
In January 2026, it was announced that Upper Deck would begin producing NHL Debut Game Jersey cards. The cards, scheduled to be released in the summer of 2026, will be in 2025-26 Upper Deck Extended Series and include swatches of rookies' game-used jerseys. Also that month, Upper Deck reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery, acquiring a license to produce Harry Potter collectibles.
In February 2026, Upper Deck celebrated the 25th anniversary of Upper Deck Golf. It released a 2026 Upper Deck Golf set headlined by Tiger Woods, referencing its iconic 2001 set, which featured Woods' rookie card. That same month, Upper Deck announced it had signed golfer and two-time major championNelly Korda to an exclusive deal. Korda would appear in Upper Deck's "Authenticated Memorabilia Collection" and on a Young Guns trading card. Also in February, Upper Deck released its first music-related trading cards, featuring American rock band Grateful Dead, with a 60th anniversary set called "Grateful Dead—60 Years So Far… A Visual Trip".
In April 2026, Upper Deck released its fourth and final DC x National Hockey League set, the DC x NHL "Secret Identity" crossover, which combines DC properties with 12 prominent NHL prospects, superstars, and legends.
DeWayne Buice
DeWayne Buice, then a California Angels pitcher, would later become one of Upper Deck's founding partners. In November 1987, Buice walked into The Upper Deck, a trading card store. Store owner Bill Hemrick noticed Buice and the two struck up a friendship, which led to Buice hosting an autograph session at the store. Within weeks, Buice became one of Hemrick's business partners.
Hemrick and his partner Paul Sumner were in the process of starting Upper Deck. The two lacked the business and personal connections to help land the necessary Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) license, which would allow Upper Deck to use players' names and likenesses on its cards. The only response they received was that MLBPA was not accepting another card company for three more years. Buice was told that if he could help secure the license, he would receive a 12% stake in the card company. Buice would become a key figure in getting MLBPA officials to agree to a meeting. By the end of the 1988 season, Hemrick and Sumner received the license, and 1989, they were making baseball cards.
By the time Buice retired from professional baseball at the end of the 1989 season, he had collected $2.8 million from Upper Deck. Believing the company owed him more money, Buice sued Upper Deck executives. Buice's stake in the company was settled in court, and he became a millionaire who reportedly made $17 million on the deal, far more than he ever made as a baseball player. In two-and-a-half seasons with the Angels, Buice made $212,500.
Upper Deck was originally scheduled to pay Buice over a four-year period, but due to the 1994 baseball strike, Upper Deck's business stalled. Buice then agreed to a six-year payment plan. Sales in 1995 and 1996 fell so far that for those two years, virtually all the company's profits went to Buice.
On the day in 1998 that Upper Deck cut Buice his final check, the company threw a party at its Carlsbad, California, headquarters. The top brass ordered employees to work a half day. Later that year at the Christmas party, Upper Deck CEO Richard McWilliam told employees the company's deal with Buice was the worst deal it had ever done.
1989 set and Ken Griffey Jr.
In the 1989 Upper Deck baseball set, Ken Griffey Jr. was selected to be featured on card number one. A teenage employee named Tom Geideman was the one who suggested the use of Griffey Jr. as its choice for the number-one card. Traditionally, competitors like Topps had a system for reserving various numbers in their sets (such as numbers 1 and 100) for the biggest stars in the game. Geideman decided that a top prospect should be honored with the number one card in the inaugural 1989 set. After reviewing Baseball America, Geideman narrowed the list of candidates to four: Gregg Jefferies of the New York Mets, Gary Sheffield of the Milwaukee Brewers, Sandy Alomar Jr. of the San Diego Padres, and Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners. Geideman was a Mariners fan and decided that Griffey Jr. should be the prospect featured on card number one of the 1989 set.
At press time, Griffey Jr. had not yet played a major league game, so Upper Deck used an image of him in a San Bernardino Spirit uniform. Competitors such as Score and Topps neglected to include a card of Griffey Jr. in their regular 1989 sets. Both brands would make a card of Griffey Jr. in their end of year Traded sets.[citation needed] Upper Deck's Griffey Jr. exclusivity gained exposure due to the popularity of Griffey Jr. in the 1989 MLB season.
Despite the popularity of the Griffey Jr. card, it was not a scarce card. The card was situated in the top left corner of the uncut sheets and was more liable to be cut poorly or have its corners dinged. Company policy was that if a customer found a damaged card in their package, the company would replace it. Many Griffey Jr. cards were returned, which resulted in Upper Deck printing many uncut sheets (consisting of 100 cards) of just the Griffey Jr. card. According to Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), the Griffey Jr. card would become the most graded card of all time with the company; PSA graded over 50,000 of the cards. The Beckett Grading card service has evaluated over 25,000 of the Griffey Jr. rookie cards.
In September 2026, Sports Illustrated's Collectibles named the 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. #1 Star Rookie card, the 1989 Dale Murphy #357 Reverse Negative card, and the 1989 Randy Johnson #25 Star Rookie card the top three "most valuable and iconic 1989 Upper Deck baseball cards". The first-place Griffey Jr. card had sold for $6,215 at a PSA 10 Sale.
High end sports cards and insert sets
Memorabilia and relic cards
In 1997, Upper Deck was the first trading card company to insert swatches of game-used material into cards. By 1999, "player-worn" cards were introduced, where jerseys came from promotional photo shoots. Upper Deck has changed its practice of using materials certified as "Worn" by the player depicted on the front of the card. The changed wording on the backs of Upper Deck insert cards makes it less clear as to how the materials were used or what player wore the item, for example:
1997 Rey Ordóñez card (back of card): "On the front of this card is an authentic piece of a game-worn jersey from an official 1996 Major League Baseball game. This swatch is from a jersey worn by Rey Ordonez."
2008–09 Kevin Garnett card (back of card): "On the front of this card is a piece of memorabilia that has been certified to us as having been used by Kevin Garnett as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves in an NBA game."
Until the 2008–09 season, Upper Deck guaranteed its patches were "game-used by the player featured on the card", although these guarantees became increasingly vague. Upper Deck's authenticity has been questioned in regards to players' jersey and uniform materials, but with no real founding. Upper Deck has distanced itself from patch certification. Instead, the cards state that the inserted items are known to Upper Deck to have been used or worn, and authenticity is certified by third-party memorabilia vendors for the card company. Some of Upper Deck's jersey materials are harvested at events like rookie photo shoots, such as the NHLPA Rookie Showcase, during which players wear uniforms to generate event-worn material that never sees the field of play. Collectors still debate and question the authenticity of such "memorabilia", which often includes items manufactured specifically for insert cards, patches, and other desirable content.
For its 2024–25 Ultimate Collection Hockey mail-in program, Upper Deck issued a statement that certain Jersey and Patch cards were eligible for replacement (from March to December 2026) due to "inaccurate authentication copy".
In January 2026, it was reported that Upper Deck was collaborating the NHL and NHLPA to collect "jerseys worn by top NHL rookies in their debut games" to create swatches for trading cards as part of 2025–26 Upper Deck Extended Series. These Debut Game Jersey cards would have a certificate of authenticity and "a photo-matched image of the player from their first professional game, as well as a piece of the jersey they wore during that game".
NBA Exquisite Collection
Upper Deck premiered its NBA Exquisite Collection line in the 2003–2004 season. Each pack contained five basketball cards; one veteran base card numbered to 225, one autographed rookie card featuring a piece of patch worn by the player numbered to 99 or 225, one game worn jersey card, one autographed/patch insert card, and a fifth card that was either a low numbered parallel or an additional autographed patch card. Suggested retail price of the product was $500, making it the most expensive basketball card product ever produced at the time. Autograph cards include veterans such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. The most sought after cards from the line include the autographed/patch rookie cards numbered to 99 (LeBron James, Darko Milicic, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Udonis Haslem), the Limited Logos inserts which feature an extra large jersey patch piece and autograph, and the autographed/patch rookie parallels serial numbered to the player's jersey number. By 2024, Upper Deck's Exquisite Collection had become highly coveted, with specific cards valued from $30,000 to $800,000 for a Fanatics Collect and Sotheby's auction.
Other Exquisite Collection series
In view of the Exquisite series' success, the company released 2004–05 and 2005–06 basketball sets, a 2005 football line, and an analogous 2005–06 hockey line called The Cup. The football line, which includes autographed rookie "patch" cards, is the most popular of the series.[citation needed] Variants of these cards, called the Gold Series, are limited to runs of 25 or 99 cards. The company's Exquisite-branded baseball series were introduced first as premiums in lower-end Upper Deck products[citation needed] (including the company's SP Legendary Cuts and Artifacts Baseball lines). In 2007, the company added another line to its Exquisite Collections brand, focused on rookie players.
Yankee Stadium Legacy
The Yankee Stadium Legacy set is a 6,742-card compilation chronicling every game ever played at Yankee Stadium. The card set made its official debut in random packs of Upper Deck's 2008 Series 1 Baseball. Cards in the set commemorate famous sporting events that took place at Yankee Stadium, including Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man Alive" Speech (1939), Babe Ruth's "Final Visit to Yankee Stadium" (1948), Joe Louis versus Max Schmeling heavyweight title bout (1936), and Muhammad Ali's title defense against Ken Norton (1976).
Guinness World Records stated an intention to certify the Yankee Stadium Legacy Set as the largest baseball card set ever produced, but the official recognition would take place after all of the 6,500 cards were released.
The Yankee Stadium Legacy cards were inserted into various sets: Spectrum, Piece of History, SPx, Upper Deck Series Two, SP Legendary Cuts (hobby-only), SP Authentic, UDx, and UD Masterpieces. Upper Deck started a website so collectors could learn more about the Yankee Stadium Legacy set. Alphanumeric codes found on the backs of cards could be entered at the site, and collectors would be able to use the site to manage their collections online, and track their collections against other collectors via a leader board.
Tommy Baxter, a 36-year-old from Little Rock, Arkansas, was the first collector to put together Upper Deck's Yankee Stadium Legacy (YSL) Collection.
NHL Biography of a Season
The NHL Biography of a Season was a 30-card set capturing the greatest moments of the 2008-09 NHL Season. The cards were available through Upper Deck Certified Diamond Dealers. A collector had to redeem five wrappers of 2008/2009 Upper Deck hockey cards at a participating hobby store and receive an exclusive Upper Deck Biography of a Season card. One new card was available every week throughout the NHL season. The first five cards were:
For its 20th anniversary in 2009, Upper Deck released a set that could be found in its 2009 baseball trading card releases. The massive 2,500 card set commemorated the previous 20 years in sports, pop culture, politics, world history, and technology. The first cards from the 20th Anniversary Retrospective set were found in 2009 Upper Deck Series One Baseball. An additional element, the 100-card memorabilia set, was found in all sets beginning with 2009 Upper Deck Spectrum Baseball.
NBA Michael Jordan Legacy
In April 2009, the company announcement that longtime company spokesman Michael Jordan would be honored with a 1,170-card tribute insert set chronicling every Chicago Bulls game Jordan played in. The set began with his NBA debut on October 26, 1984, through his final Bulls appearance in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on June 14, 1998. The 1,170-card set released across four 2009 Upper Deck basketball products: Lineage, Radiance, Upper Deck, and First Edition. Each of the cards included Jordan's specific box score stats from the game in question, including regular-season and playoff games. The cards would fall, on average, 1:4 packs across all four brands.
In addition to the 1,170 Jordan game cards, Upper Deck also included 100 different game-used memorabilia cards, each one crash-numbered to 23 (Jordan's number). The cards had swatches from Jordan's game-worn jerseys. Over 100 different action photos showing Jordan through the years were used for card front photography.
Top-selling cards
Several Upper Deck trading cards have sold for hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars at auction:
In early-2020, a card featuring Michael Jordan and LeBron James 2003–04 Exquisite Collection All-NBA Access Press Patches sold for $900,000 in a private transaction brokered via Goldin Auctions.
In July 2020, a James 2003–04 Exquisite Collection Rookie Patch Autograph card sold at Goldin Auctions for $1.8 million.
In April 2021, a 2003–04 Exquisite Collection James Rookie Patch Autograph card sold for $5.2 million.
In late-2021, an autographed 1997–98 Game Jersey Jordan card sold privately via Goldin Auctions for $2.7 million.
In mid-2024, a 1-of-1 numbered, on-card autographed Jordan Logoman from the 2003–04 Ultimate Collection sold for $2.9 million, setting a record for that time.
In September 2024, at a Fanatics and Sotheby inaugural "Holy Grails" auction, a 2000 Upper Deck SP Authentic Tom Brady Rookie Autograph card—once owned by Brady—sold for $192,000. A 2003–04 James Exquisite Collection Rookie Patch sold for $432,000, and a 2005–06 Exquisite Collection Autograph Patch James card sold for $576,000, breaking the record for a 2005 James card.
In April 2026, an on-card autographed 1997–98 Game Jersey Jordan card, with a jersey swatch from the 1992 NBA All-Star Game, sold for $4.25 million, marking the most paid for a solo Jordan card.
Find the Heroes
The success of the "Find the Reggie" promotion led Upper Deck to expand its certified autograph insert program across multiple sports from 1990 to 1993. Twelve sets, known collectively as the Upper Deck Heroes, established the first systematic use of individually hand-signed, serially numbered autograph cards in the hobby. Nine of the twelve sets were randomly inserted into High Series or Low Series retail and hobby packs, with no external indication that a pack contained a signed card. Wayne Gretzky (hockey), Walter Payton (football), and Dan Marino (football) were instead sold as factory-assembled framed boxed sets by the newly launched Upper Deck Authenticated (UDA) division and were never inserted into packs.
The baseball portion of the program featured five sets. The inaugural 1990 set honored Reggie Jackson; subsequent sets featured Nolan Ryan and Hank Aaron (both 1991), Ted Williams (1992), and a dual-signed set featuring Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan honoring the Cincinnati Reds' "Big Red Machine" era (1992), the only dual-signed set in the program. The basketball series consisted of a single set featuring Jerry West (1991–92). The hockey component included sets for Brett Hull (1991–92) and Wayne Gretzky (1992–93). Football subjects comprised four sets: Joe Montana and Joe Namath (both 1991), and Walter Payton and Dan Marino (both 1992).
The nine pack-inserted sets were serial-numbered to 2,500 and the three UDA sets were numbers to 2,800. Each autographed Heroes card was authenticated with an Upper Deck diamond hologram on the reverse, distinguishing it from unsigned parallel insert versions of the same design which had a different hologram. A community site tracking reported sightings of all twelve sets across their serial numbers is maintained by collectors at Find the Heroes.
Acquired brands
Konami
Upper Deck acquired the rights to distribute the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game from Konami in 2002. That same year, second quarter American sales reached $17 million.
In October 2008, Konami sued Vintage Sports Cards for distributing Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Game Cards, along with counterfeit cards. The cards were found in a Los AngelesToys-R-Us. Vintage denied any wrongdoing, claiming they legally obtained all cards (counterfeits included) directly from Upper Deck. Konami added Upper Deck as defendants on December 11. December 2008, Konami announced they were assuming full control over Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, which includes distribution and customer support. In response, Upper Deck filed a $75 million suit against Konami in Nevada District Court.
In a January 26, 2009 press release Upper Deck denied allegations of counterfeiting, and stated that Upper Deck would support the Yu-Gi-Oh! community in an upcoming event. On February 26, 2009, Upper Deck was ordered to cease distribution of Yu-Gi-Oh! products, stop using Konami's trademarks and stop promoting itself as an authorized distributor or rights-holder to Yu-Gi-Oh!.
On January 10, 2010, Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank ruled in a US District Court that Upper Deck had counterfeited the cards, and additionally threw out Upper Deck's countersuit alleging breach of the distribution agreement. The next stage of the case began on January 26, 2010, where a jury was to decide whether Upper Deck was liable for counterfeiting the cards. During the opening statement for the defense, Upper Deck's attorney, Richard Howell of Rutan & Tucker stated "The behavior is still undeniably wrong. And I am in here, as counsel for the two defendants, asking you to hold my clients accountable for that behavior; asking you to hold my clients responsible for this conduct that there is no dispute, and there was no disputing even before this case started today, that it was wrong." After the second day of court proceedings, Konami and Upper Deck reached an out-of-court settlement. The terms were not publicly disclosed.
Maxx racing cards
Maxx produced racing cards from 1988 to 1996. Upper Deck started producing racing cards in 1995, acquired the Maxx brand in December 1996, and discontinued the line in 2000.
O-Pee-Chee
Upper Deck became licensor of the O-Pee-Chee brand in 2007, after the original Canadian company was sold to Nestlé in 1996. O-Pee-Chee's collections of baseball and ice hockey cards had been commercialised by Topps from 1997 to 2004. Since Upper Deck succeeded Topps as licensor, it has released several collections up to the present day.
The Entertainment department was all but dissolved in March 2010 citing layoffs for a large number of employees. After about a year of hibernation, the Entertainment Department began to rebuild and gained traction again in board gaming with the release of Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game Earning industry awards and securing large scale mass market placement, the company was back in the driver's seat. Eventually, the department entered the mobile game market with Legendary: DXP.
Upper Deck Digital
Upper Deck Digital technology includes the PenCam, an authentication system and the e-Card, a trading card with a virtual twin. They also provide Personalized Trading Card, allowing amateur sports fans to go online and create their own Upper Deck trading card. WebPass is a technology that turns an invisible watermark on a trading card into the collector's key into secret websites.
Upper Deck International
In 1991, Upper Deck introduced its products to the global marketplace with the creation of Upper Deck Europe, headquartered in the Netherlands. With an office in Amsterdam and distribution throughout Europe, Asia and India, the company markets and sells TCG's, Toys, Games and Collectibles that are geared to local consumers. The emphasis is less on sports items and more on toys and games.
The organization changed its name to Upper Deck International in 2008, reflecting an increasingly broader outlook than Europe alone.
In addition to EMEA, Upper Deck International is responsible for Oceania, Japan and Latin America. With offices in Berlin, Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo, Sydney and São Paulo the company is optimally organized for distribution across the globe. Upper Deck International lost the Yu-Gi-Oh license as well in 2009.
On February 14, 2012, Upper Deck International declared bankruptcy.
Upper Deck Kids
In April 2006, Upper Deck created Upper Deck Kids with the slogan "Get More Than Lucky." Kids could enter codes printed on the back of cards on the website to get points, which they can redeem for prizes. In April 2007, Upper Deck instituted a monthly limit of 1000 codes, and adults became ineligible to sign up. New rewards are usually added weekly. Prizes in the past included autographed memorabilia, sports card boxes, screensavers, desktop wallpapers, video games, and systems, among others. The website also encourages you to buy sports cards. Each prize is worth a different amount. Upper Deck Kids also has message boards where kids can talk about sports, trade codes, gossip, etc. Also, Upper Deck implemented a limit on how many invalid codes you can enter due to multiple hackers that wrote code-cracking programs to guess all the possible codes and take all the prizes for themselves.
Additionally, Upper Deck announced that children are no longer able to redeem Upper Deck product codes from 2006 for points on the kids' website to avoid "code sharing" amongst members. Code sharing involves publishing massive lists of free codes posted on third-party sites that can be used to redeem vast numbers of points. Trading of codes also takes place on the website. Also, to encourage kids to buy the most recent Upper Deck products, codes from the backs of cards older than six months are worth half of their original rewards points value.
Trading cards
Sports
Upper Deck has covered a wide range of sports through its trading cards collections, currently focusing on few of them. Some of the collections released by the company include:
Under the executive direction of McWilliam, Upper Deck became known as a litigious company. Stars like Mickey Mantle, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Ted Williams, Upper Deck employees, vendors and even licensors were forced to the courts to settle simple disputes with McWilliam. Pelton & Associates successfully froze all of Upper Deck's product shipments after they proved to the court that they actually owned the custom logos, designs and packaging and that Upper Deck had not paid them.[citation needed]
Konami - After Upper Deck admitted to counterfeiting cards, the lawsuit was settled out of court.[citation needed]
MLB - filed a federal lawsuit in New York against Upper Deck, accusing the company of trademark infringement and illegally selling cards that feature official team logos and uniforms. The complaint also notes that Upper Deck owes MLB $2.4 million.
BreaKey International - A partial summary judgment was ordered on the December 22nd, 2004 but was denied, a second partial summary judgment happened on September 29th 2005.[citation needed]
Buzz Marketing- A May 6th, 2004 lawsuit relating to the marketing of BreaKey.[citation needed]
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Upper Deck used six photos of Abdul-Jabbar during his college years without permission. The photos were part of a trading card series called "Greats of the Game," which also had Abdul-Jabbar's name and signature.
"Abdul-Jabbar never authorized the production of the cards," the suit reads according to Courthouse News. "In fact, at all times, Upper Deck was fully aware that Abdul-Jabbar had never authorized Upper Deck to use his photograph, name and signature for college-themed cards, and Abdul-Jabbar had previously rejected Upper Deck's request for such authorization."
Upper Deck has yet to respond to the allegations.[citation needed]
American International Specialty Lines Insurance Company
American International Specialty Lines Insurance Company - This case arose out of an insurance policy that The Upper Deck Corporation ("Upper Deck"), purchased from American International Specialty Lines Insurance Company ("AISLIC"). The policy insured a tax strategy that KPMG, an accounting firm, developed for Upper Deck. The IRS investigated the tax strategy and determined that it constituted an improper tax shelter. Upper Deck then settled with the IRS for $80 million in back taxes and interest, and with the California Franchise Tax Board for $17 million in back taxes and interest.
After AISLIC rejected Upper Deck's claim that the policy covered the loss incurred as a result of the settlement, Upper Deck and its chief executive officer, Richard McWilliam, filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California seeking, inter alia, a declaratory judgment that the policy issued by AISLIC covered the loss. Subsequently, the district court granted AISLIC's motion to compel arbitration.
A three-member panel of arbitrators held that Upper Deck and McWilliam were not entitled to coverage because Upper Deck had abandoned the tax strategy that AISLIC had insured. The district court confirmed the arbitration award.
↑"F.A.Q.sArchived 2010-12-01 at the Wayback Machine." Upper Deck Company. Retrieved on April 17, 2011. "Our corporate headquarters is located in the beautiful, seaside community of Carlsbad in San Diego's North County."
↑"FAQs". Upper Deck. Archived from the original on August 14, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2011. 5909 Sea Otter Place Carlsbad, CA 92010
12Patrick Roy, winning, nothing else, p. 296, by Michel Roy, translated by Charles Phillips, 2008, John Wiley & Sons, Mississauga, ON, ISBN978-0-470-15616-2
↑Patrick Roy, winning, nothing else, p. 297, by Michel Roy, translated by Charles Phillips, 2008, John Wiley & Sons, Mississauga, ON, ISBN978-0-470-15616-2
↑Patrick Roy, winning, nothing else, p. 299, by Michel Roy, translated by Charles Phillips, 2008, John Wiley & Sons, Mississauga, ON, ISBN978-0-470-15616-2
↑"The Upper Deck Company Spends $1.1 Million at Sotheby's Barry Halper Baseball Memorabilia Auction", PR Newswire, September 30, 1999
↑Dohrmann, George (August 14, 2000). "Go Figures". Time Inc. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 22, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
123456Jamieson, Dave (2010). Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession. Atlantic Monthly Press, imprint of Grove/Atlantic Inc. p.167. ISBN978-0-8021-1939-1.
↑Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession, p.166, Dave Jamieson, 2010, Atlantic Monthly Press, imprint of Grove/Atlantic Inc., New York, NY, ISBN978-0-8021-1939-1
