Printify and Printful reach agreement in U.S. court battle

Take note – story published 3 years ago

Two successful and similarly-named Latvian companies have reached an agreement after legal action in the United States -- with both parties claiming to be satisfied with the outcome. 

"The United States District Court for the Northern District of California will issue an injunction in Printful's lawsuit against Printify. In the injunction, Printify will acknowledge violating US federal laws and unlawfully infringing Printful's intellectual property rights," said a statement from Printful.

“We hope that Printify's management will fulfill the requirements approved by the judge to avoid infringements of intellectual property rights. The core values of the Printful business include respect for its customers and employees, fiscal responsibility, fair competition, and recognition of creative ownership. We expect the same from other players in the industry,” said Printful's General Counsel Baiba Orbidāne, adding that the company is prepared to seek future court intervention for any similar future infringements. 

"The two companies have reached an agreement that includes more than $100,000 in compensation for Printful and a court-issued obligation for Printify not to pursue any further activities that violate Printful's intellectual property rights," Printful said.

Printful filed the complaint in late 2019, claiming Printify had illegally copied and altered the software code created by Printful for their integration with the ecommerce platform WooCommerce.

Meanwhile, Printify issued its own statement about the settlement, which suggested it was pleased with the outcome, too.

"Large-scale litigation in the United States is often used as a business tactic rather than as a mechanism to prevent actual injury. I am glad that in this case we we were able to convince Printful that there was no point in continuing the proceedings," said Printify's legal counsel Allon Levy.

"Printful's problem here, if it really ever existed, could have been resolved with a simple phone call. Instead of which, they ran to court, and the result of this tactic is that the only people who really earned money in this case were lawyers on both sides," Levy added. 

Proceeding with full litigation in the United States would most likely have cost each party several million dollars, and so Printify had agreed to the settlement route, the company said.

According to the agreement, Printify must pay Printful 105,000 dollars within 120 days but the costs of the proceedings and of the lawyers must be borne by each party.

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