US and Cork-based Zazzle sued by designer claiming font theft
Zazzle has its European headquarters in Union Quay, Cork. Photo: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision
The font Blooming Elegant is admired for its loping, cursive lettering, described by its creator as “playful” and “super flirty.” A download for personal use costs $17.
However, the font’s designer, Nicky Laatz, accused the online retailer Zazzle in US federal court of stealing the design and using it to fraudulently generate hundreds of millions of dollars for itself.
Zazzle, which sells custom-printed day planners, coffee mugs and other goods online, offered Blooming Elegant until recently among the hundreds of fonts available for customers to decorate their trinkets.
In her complaint filed in a Northern California district court, Laatz claims Zazzle representatives asked the British font designer in 2016 to license her product. She didn’t respond and says a Zazzle employee, a senior network engineer, then bought a license meant for individual use and helped carry out the alleged fraud.
Zazzle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Redwood City, California-based company was founded in 2005 and has been inching toward an initial public offering as soon as this year. The company has a significant presence in Ireland establishing its European headquarters in Cork city in 2013.
Last year, it announced plans to add 50 jobs over three years in Cork. Zazzle has hired Citigroup and Barclays for an IPO and could seek a market value of $1bn to $2bn, Bloomberg reported in February.
After the font was made available on Zazzle, it became one of the most popular on the site, according to the complaint. Its distinguished letters adorn wedding invitations, business cards, glittery flasks and smartphone cases.
Laatz complained about the single-user license in 2020, but, she alleges, Zazzle kept using Blooming Elegant for two years after that.
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