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This information is taken directly from the court opinion. It is not taken out of context nor is it altered.

From Cardtoons v. Major League Baseball Players Assn, 95 F.3d 959 (10. th. Cir. 1996) MLBPA further contends that this suit does not involve a case or controversy. We review this issue de novo. Federal Express Corp. v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n, 67 F.3d 961, 964 (D.C. Cir. 1995); see New Mexico Env't Dep't v. Foulston, 4 F.3d 887, 888-89 (10th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 114 S. Ct. 1372 (1994). Federal courts may only decide cases or controversies, U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, a requirement that is no less strict in an action for a declaratory judgment than in any other type of suit, I, 319 U.S. 359, 363 (1943). Indeed, the requirement is reflected in the Declaratory Judgment Act, which limits application of the remedy to cases of "actual controversy." 28 U.S.C. § 2201(a). In order to satisfy this threshold requirement, there must be "a real and substantial controversy admitting of specific relief through a decree of a conclusive character, as distinguished from an opinion advising what the law would be upon a hypothetical state of facts." Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Haworth, 300 U.S. 227, 241 (1937). In an intellectual property case, an actual controversy exists when (1) the declaratory plaintiff has produced or is prepared to produce the product in question and (2) the declaratory defendant's conduct has created a reasonable apprehension on the part of the declaratory plaintiff that it will face suit if it commences or continues the activity at issue. Spectronics Corp. v. H.B. Fuller Co., 940 F.2d 631, 634 (Fed. Cir.) (patent), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1013 (1991); Texas v. West Publishing Co., 882 F.2d 171, 175 (5th Cir. 1989) (copyright), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1058 (1990); Indium Corp. v. Semi-Alloys, Inc., 781 F.2d 879, 883 (Fed. Cir. 1985) (trademark), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 820 (1986). The declaratory plaintiff bears the burden of establishing the existence of a controversy by a preponderance of the evidence. Texas v. West Publishing Co., 882 F.2d 171, 175 (5th Cir. 1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1058 (1990).