Ever since Fanatics acquired Topps in early 2022, a clash between Fanatics and its chief trading card competitor Panini has been brewing.
It all came to a head when Panini filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Fanatics on Aug. 3. Four days later, Fanatics filed a countersuit in U.S. District Court.
Two weeks after filing the anti-trust lawsuit, Panini lost its license to produce NFL cards from the NFL Players Association, which informed player agents it had terminated its contract with Panini. Panini then filed a request for an arbitration hearing over whether the NFLPA could unilaterally cancel its license three years before its contract was set to expire.
The two lawsuits came on the heels of a suit Panini filed in May over Fanatics hiring three dozen of its employees.
Paul Lesko — a litigator known on social media as the “hobby lawyer” by folks in the industry — was shocked Fanatics responded so quickly after Panini’s antitrust suit was filed.
“The way most lawsuits work, once you get sued, if you’re a large company and you’re represented by a defense firm, you normally want to respond only when you’re supposed to respond,” Lesko told Sports Collectors Digest. “Since this was an antitrust lawsuit, you get it served, you wait three weeks or four weeks, depending on what the deadline is. Then you maybe get an extension of time because it is complex and you have to put together a pretty long response, then you do the bare minimum. You file a motion to dismiss and
