( July 28, 2025, 22:31 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: Fanatics, Inc., the National Football League, and Major League Baseball moved to dismiss US monopolization claims filed by purchasers of sports trading cards. Fanatics argued that its competitor, Panini, is the actual anticompetitive actor in the market as the holder of the National Basketball Association and NFL licenses. “But there is simply no plausible way to transform alleged harm from current purchases of Panini products into antitrust claims against Fanatics, which only sometime in the future will make and sell fully licensed NFL and NBA cards. Plaintiffs simply are not currently direct purchasers from Fanatics of those cards,” it said. The leagues also argued that the plaintiffs could not have bought cards directly from them since the leagues do not sell them. See attached file. ...
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