The legal feud between Upper Deck and Konami over the rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game has spread to Europe.  Upper Deck International and Upper Deck Panoceanic have announced that they have filed for an injunction in the Netherlands against Konami on the basis of unlawful termination.  Konami announced on December 12th that it was taking over all operational and business aspects of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (see “Konami Takes Over Yu-Gi-Oh!”).

In an open letter posted on the Upper Deck International Website and signed by Eric Burzle, President of Upper Deck Panoceanic, and Nico Blauw, CEO of Upper Deck International, Upper Deck announced its intention with regard to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG to “continue to do business with all its counterparties as usual.”  According to the letter, Upper Deck maintains “that there is no legal ground or justification for this termination by Konami whatsoever and that this termination is therefore wrongful.  Regarding the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game business, Upper Deck is still the sole and exclusive distributor for the European territory and will continue providing the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG products to all its contractual customers.”