Upper Deck and Konami notified the court this week that they’ve reached a settlement in their litigation over counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh! cards as the trial to assess damages was about to begin (see “Konami, Upper Deck Trial Date Set”).  The settlement, according to court documents, provides that the preliminary injunction that stopped Upper Deck’s involvement with the Yu-Gi-Oh! brand almost a year ago (see “Konami Gets Injunction”) will be made permanent.  And a “structured payment schedule” for Upper Deck to pay Konami has been agreed upon. 

There were a few admitted facts in the pre-trial conference order that we haven’t previously reported.  Not all of the 610,000 counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh! cards imported from China by Upper Deck were sent to Vintage Sports Cards.   Beckett Associates received approximately 20,000 cards, Legends LLC received approximately 50,400 cards, and Excell Marketing received approximately 8,656 cards. 

With the end of this litigation, Upper Deck and Konami put to rest a court battle that began in October of 2008 with a suit by Konami against Vintage Sports Cards.  In the course of the suit, Konami discovered that the counterfeit cards distributed by Vintage had been sold to Vintage by Upper Deck; Konami then commenced litigation against Upper Deck.  The last filing in the case was the 500th document filed with the federal court, a record of a bitter dispute that both companies are undoubtedly happy to end. 

Konami has been distributing its own Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG products in the U.S since early last year.