Where’s Jordan? Upper Deck v. Panini Am.

By Lisa Rubin and Douglas Masters, of Loeb & Loeb LLP   On June 29, 2020, the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of California allowed the majority of Upper Deck Company’s (“Upper Deck”) claims to proceed against Panini America, Inc. (“Panini”), one of Upper Deck’s main competitors in the sports trading card market, for Panini’s use of Michael Jordan’s (“Jordan”) image on two trading cards. Jordan was drafted to the NBA in 1984 and won six championships with