Provo Craft Sues Sure Cuts A Lot, Alleging Copyright Violations

Editor's Note: Please note that Scrapbook Update is an independent news organization and not in any way affiliated with Provo Craft or any party involved in this lawsuit. 

Provo Craft's attorneys have once again moved to take action against a company making third party Cricut add-ons. The company filed suit in U.S. District Court on January 20th, 2011 against Craft Edge, the producer of Sure Cuts A Lot software, and Craft Edge's owner, Brandon Kuroda. The suit alleges that Kuroda violated Provo Craft's copyright on the Cricut Design Studio software when he created the Sure Cuts A Lot software code, and that the company has been violating Cricut's trademarks in its products and marketing.

Provo Craft is seeking compensation, damages and attorney's fees in the suit, as well as an injunction preventing the future sale of the Sure Cuts A Lot software.

Sure Cuts a Lot is a software program by Craft Edge Inc. Developed in 2008, this program was designed to allow users to cut out any true type font, various shapes/dingbats, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) files and even their own personal creations with their Cricut Machine. While no specific cartridge is required to use the program, it is necessary to insert a cartridge to cut with the machine.

At its launch in 2008, SCAL was only a Windows release and was met with mixed reviews within the Cricut community. Many people eager to expand their library of Cricut fonts quickly purchased the program. Other Cricut owners, fearful of damage to their machines, shied away from even trying the demo version. Provo Craft also scared off some users by issuing a formal warning stating the use of third party software with the machines voided the warranty on them.

In years following, SCAL gained popularity fueled by the addition of a Mac version, the expiration of many machines' warranties, and the rising cost and limitations of Cricut Cartridges. A whole community of users formed around SCAL, built around using the program and designing SVG files to use with it.

SCAL is now also compatible with products from Craft Robo (which manufactures the Silhouette and Wishblade machines) and is also soon to be compatible with the eCraft by Craftwell.

Provo Craft filed suit against Makes The Cut over its third party Cricut software in April 2010. That lawsuit has just reached a settlement.