Any updates on the lawsuit against Hero Arts?

This is news to me. What is the lawsuit about?

Nancy Nally posted an update last September on a website called Craft Industry Alliance.

Sizzix reached a settlement with Avery Elle and Prima Marketing.

Hero Arts, Stephanie Barnard, and Heartfelt Creations are just in the holding period until the trials. I read that Hero Arts will go to trial in August 2020.

The ironic thing is that Sizzix did not invent the thin dies (Spellbinders did), and at least one or two of the companies being sued were offering matching stamps and dies before Sizzix did.

It’s a complicated enough situation legally that three of the companies are fighting it, so the courts will have to sort it out. I suspect that the Sizzix CEO, who is European, expected everyone to just cave in to their demands rather than fight it out in court.

I read the history of the original patent by Spellbinders and how they lost it, and also how Sizzix made a tiny modification and applied for the patent (but is reportedly now claiming all thin dies with an open middle fall under their patent, regardless of where the cutting edge is). Sizzix seems to have recognized they could take advantage of a legal loophole, then use the courts to try to destroy a lot of their competition. However, they did not try to sue Spellbinders. Sizzix probably recognized that they wouldn’t stand a chance in the courts if they tried to sue the actual inventor of the thin dies.

I refuse to buy from Sizzix anymore. I used to buy a lot of their products. What they are doing may technically be legal, but it’s totally slimy in my opinion.

I wonder if the issue with the patents being granted had more to to with understaffed or lazy patent office employees. I agree that common sense should prevail in patent law, and hopefully also in the courts deciding the cases.

Lawsuits are often used to intimidate and to bully, which is how I view these lawsuits initiated by MSP and by Sizzix. I think that all of MSP’s competitors caved except for SU. I don’t know when that case will be heard, but I was happy to hear that someone stood up to MSP.  Lawsuits are expensive, and not every company can afford to withstand such tactics, but it makes me sick that both MSP and Sizzix have chosen this route to destroy their competition.

Considering that Tonic settled with MSP, and Tonic is not a small company, I think that Sizzix expected Heartfelt Creations, Hero Arts, and the third company (sorry, their name slips my mind) to just crumble and settle out of court like Tonic did. I am glad that these three companies being sued by Sizzix have stood their ground, and I support them financially as much as I am able.

I completely agree with everything you’ve said. 

I hope so. I’m not much on boycotting but this case really irritates me. Since I own a big shot I do have to occasionally buy plates but I stopped buying anything else Sizzix back when this whole thing started. 

My LSS will still sell the sizzix products they had in stock but won’t place a new order with sizzix.

I don’t know how prevalent that type of thing is.

( I did buy sizzix dies at a craft garage sale last fall though because that’s no longer affecting sizzix )

I really don’t feel sizzix has come out with anything that appeals to me in a long time.  But I still like the old dies I have, but really have not brought any new ones for a couple of years now.

I unsubscribed to Sizzix last year. Haven’t purchased anything in a long time.