Leaf Granted Extension to Answer Topps Complaint

September 9, 2011 By Editor

A U.S. District Court judge has granted Leaf Trading Cards until next Thursday to answer a lawsuit filed last month by The Topps Company.

Topps filed federal copyright and trademark infringement claims against Leaf over a promotional or "sell sheet" for its 2011 Leaf Best of Baseball product. The flyer lists and shows several old Topps cards.

Leaf had been due to respond earlier this month, but both parties in the suit agreed to extend that to September 15.

As we first reported last month, Topps is asking for unspecified damages, claiming Leaf doesn't have the rights to use pictures of old Topps cards that feature the company's logos nor the players it has under exclusive contract.

Topps says it owns the card images and logos and has exclusivity on the use of the players' names and autographs. Even though the cards included in The Best of Baseball boxes are "buybacks", Topps claims Leaf doesn't have the rights to use pictures of the cards in promoting the product.

Topps says the advertising is "a blatant attempt at capitalizing on Topps' goodwill and intellectual property to advertise and promote Leaf's product."