Quickutz Sued By Spellbinders
Quickutz has become the target of legal action for the second time this year, this time from competitor Spellbinders.
Spellbinders and its CEO James Jeffrey Caron filed a lawsuit in US District Court for Arizona on Monday, alleging patent violations by several Quickutz products. The patent in question is U.S. Patent No. 7,469,634 which is called "Apertured Media Embellishing Template and System and Method using Same." Caron owns the patent, and Spellbinders has the exclusive license to manufacture products covered by it. The suit alleges that Quickutz's cookie-cutter dies, nesting-shapes dies, and the circle-cutting dies sold with the Letter Press Combo Kit are all in violation of the patent:
QuicKutz manufactures, advertises, offers for sale, and sells dies, including the cookie-cutter dies and various other nesting-shapes dies sold under QuicKutz's QUICKUTZ brand and circle-cutting dies sold as part of the Letter Press Combo Kit sold under QuicKutz's LIFESTYLE CRAFTS brand, that are covered by one or more claims of the '634 Patent, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
Spellbinders is asking that the court order that Quickutz cease manufacturing, advertising, and selling the products that they say infringe on their patent. They are also asking:
- Damages that amount to at least a reasonable royalty
- For all infringing products to be recalled and either destroyed or turned over to Spellbinders
- A three-fold penalty on the damage amount due to the infringement being "willful"
- Costs, Attorney's Fees, and pre- and post-judgement interest on assessed damages
Quickutz will have 21 days after they are served with the suit (which may not have happened yet) to file a response with the court.
A representative for Spellbinders declined to comment on the pending litigation to Scrapbook Update, except to say that "the matter will be resolved through the federal court system." Quickutz has not responded to a request for comment.
It's been a long year for Quickutz. They were sued on July 15th by a Hong Kong-based supplier, Bai-Win Mercantile, who alleged that the company was over $700,000 behind in paying its bills. The two companies apparently settled out of court in September, and jointly requested the court to dismiss the case.
In addition to the lawsuit over their bills, there have been other signs of trouble for Quickutz. They are not currently on the list of exhibitors for CHA-Winter 2010 in Anaheim, and their business registration with the State of Utah Department of Commerce was expired for over two-and-a-half months before being renewed in early December. Some retailers have been reporting to Scrapbook Update that they are encountering significant delays in receiving product ordered from the company.
