omg Provo Craft has sued Craft Edge

[frkrhe]

I am new to SCAL. I honestly found out about it from users on the Cricut MB. I love being able to use SCAL & My Cricut as well as my Cricut and the cartridges (100 +). After hearing about the lawsuit I decided to do a search to see how this will affect me using SCAL. I have to admit I am confused, am I correct to understand the lawsuit against Craft Edge (SCAL) has been filed and that is the extent of it right now (I did read that the other third party software company settled w/o going to court)? From the responses here it looks like even if PC were to win the lawsuit I would still be able to continue to use my SCAL as it stands right now and not do any future SCAL updates? I know I have the option of buying a new machine to use SCAL on and do the updates. Now should the later of the two happen and I get another machine will I need to purchase another copy of SCAL - I have the new version ?

TIA,
Jen

[jasenj1]

I have to admit I am confused, am I correct to understand the lawsuit against Craft Edge (SCAL) has been filed and that is the extent of it right now

That seems to be the case. The paperwork was filed in January. I don't know how long it takes to get a court date, etc.

(I did read that the other third party software company settled w/o going to court)?

Yes. They agreed to stop selling software that works with the Cricut. That seems to be the end of it - no cash settlement.

From the responses here it looks like even if PC were to win the lawsuit I would still be able to continue to use my SCAL as it stands right now and not do any future SCAL updates?

This I am unclear on. SCAL authenticates using a license key to the Internet. I think it just calls home initially to be activated and then keeps working. So that should be fine.

ProvoCraft could force CE to disable all existing copies. So do something to make the license keys not work. When SCAL "calls home" to check for updates, it could be disabled.

Also, PC could bar SCAL from updating the software and then issue a Cricut firmware upgrade that stops SCAL from working.

I know I have the option of buying a new machine to use SCAL on and do the updates. Now should the later of the two happen and I get another machine will I need to purchase another copy of SCAL - I have the new version ?

Unknown. I would hope CE would be nice to existing customers and let them cross-grade to a version that supports different cutters for free. But that's pure speculation. CE could go to court and win!

As a little fish though, the reality is that CE probably doesn't have the $$$ to endure a court battle with a big company like PC.

- Jasen.

[SBryanW]

...<snip>...They just decided to settle out of court. And if the news article is to be believed, no money changed hands. ...<snip>... - Jasen.

Jasen, If you are referring to the news article from Scrapbookupdate, the update statement about no money changing hands has been removed from that article, so I think it was an erroneous statement. Many times in a settlement out of court, the underlying details (especially financial details) are not made public. I would be surprised if the financial details of the MTC/PC settlement were (or will be) publicly disclosed. If you have another source that specifically says that no money changed hands, I would be interested in knowing that source.

[jasenj1]

Jasen, If you are referring to the news article from Scrapbookupdate, the update statement about no money changing hands has been removed from that article, so I think it was an erroneous statement

Yep. That was my source. The article seems very specific on the things MTC is required to do and barred from doing, so I was assuming they had access to the settlement documents. The article makes no mention of monetary compensation, so I was ass-u-me-ing that there was none.

- Jasen.

[linann]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the board and so nice to see so many people supporting SCAL. Add me to the list. There are a lot of upset customers on the PC message board, who are supporting SCAL. Then, there are those who will support PC to their death. I own two other cutters, and not bound by PC's machines. I find SCAL is handy when I'm cutting one of their cart images, and want to switch to one I designed. All in all, I don't think PC will look good after this. They had the opportunity to make their own program to allow our creative side, and they failed to do so. Now they want to cry wolf. Shame on them.

[shanacbell]

I bought my Cricut Expression ONLY because I could use SCAL with it (after a month of researching features and what was needed to make it work)! PC is cutting their nose to spite their face, IMO. If not for SCAL, I would not have a Cricut, so PC should be THANKING SCAL, not suing them.

I will NOT buy other carts, and will make every effort to not buy other PC products because of PC's apparent greed. I am glad I am not a Bank of America customer, either. (Decided to steer clear of them long ago when they started offering very questionable loans.)

It's my understanding that we may have to stop our automatic updates of SCAL if the outcome is similar to MTC. I'll make sure not to try anything else by PC, either, so PC won't sneak a firmware update in on my machine, rendering SCAL no longer usable.

I'm very sad it has come to this. I posted pics of my projects on FB, with several of my friends who are now looking to buy Cricuts because my projects (made with SCAL) made them want one more. My sister bought one after she saw my projects. Now, I wish I hadn't driven more customers to a big bully. I made sure to tell my friends to get SCAL to get the most out of their Cricut. I hope they get it in time.