Hi, and welcome back to Legal Geek. This week, we have a brief segment updating you on a lawsuit and conflict we first reported on in this segment back in December 2016 between Cards Against Humanity and a competitor called SCS.
Back in 2016 and 2017, SCS and the makers of Cards Against Humanity sued one another for various alleged wrongs. Cards Against Humanity had objected to some of the elements SCS used in their Kickstarter campaign for a new card game called Humanity Hates Trump, and they had caused the Kickstarter campaign to be taken down before completion. SCS claimed this action was improper, while Cards Against Humanity claimed that the Humanity Hates Trump game infringed their trade marks, trade dress, and/or other intellectual property in the popular card game.
A couple weeks ago, the case settled in New York without much fanfare or explanation from the two parties. As we discussed on the original segment about this controversy, both sides had legal claims with some merit. With the potential gray area of who would win damages and a marketplace with very low profit margins on card games, it does not make sense to engage in protracted litigation which is expensive and draining on these companies. In other words, unless you have a "bet the company" conflict or a sure-fire winning argument, it makes no sense to drag out litigation in some circumstances to the bitter end.
So effectively, these two companies made a typical business decision to come to some sort of agreement to settle the case. My best guess is that these companies have agreed to co-exist in the marketplace, and just compete for customers without paying royalties to one another. But it's also possible SCS has decided to pay a small royalty or just sell their current print run and then exit the business. Cards Against Humanity has a strong market position and can probably outlive or outsell smaller competitors like this anyway, so the bigger company certainly had the leverage to negotiate out of this case and move on.
The Bottom Line is, even in a small marketplace like tabletop and card games, IP conflicts arise and sometimes go to litigation. However, extended litigation is often not in the best interest of the parties, so settlements like this have become typical in the U.S. For now, it looks like you can continue to enjoy both of these adult-themed party card games.
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