MRC, the production company behind the hit Netflix series House of Cards, has been presented with a lawsuit over merchandise items branded after the drama.
D2 Holdings, who says it owns the trademark for “House of Cards” in word form, wants the court to order distributors of the show to stop using the phrase and destroy any physical or digital materials with the phrase.
According to the lawsuit, MRC has applied for various “House of Cards” trademarks on multiple occasions and has been repeatedly rejected by the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office.
“Despite MRC’s repeated failure to obtain a trademark registration for the HOUSE OF CARDS mark because of the prior existing registration of the HOUSE OF CARDS mark, MRC has purportedly licensed the HOUSE OF CARDS mark to other entities, thus infringing upon Plaintiff’s rights in the HOUSE OF CARDS mark,” stated D2’s attorney William C. Saturley.
D2 listed a number of merchandise items that have been branded with the “House of Cards” mark without authorization, including t-shirts, hats and slot machine games titled “House of Cards Power and Money” and “House of Cards Welcome to Washington” created by International Games Technology, also named in the suit.
“Defendants’ unauthorized use of the HOUSE OF CARDS mark makes it highly likely, if not inevitable, that members of the trade and general public will be confused and assume, incorrectly, that the HOUSE OF CARDS mark is owned by MRC, or that there is an affiliation with D2, or that Plaintiff has sponsored, endorsed or approved these products,” the suit reads.
The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Massachusetts and is seeking unspecified damages.
With the proper population group the fun will probably be brought back in the game as well.
They do generally have very colorful casino type designs including
blackjack, craps, or roulette, in addition to poker.
This can make them less difficult to deal with, and much more enjoyable to maneuver the board.