Remember the coupon app SnipSnap? This app allows people to take photographs of your coupons, converting the photos into scannable bar codes. Users can then share the uploaded coupon images and codes with each other. SnipSnap came under fire in 2013 for violating copyright and transferability clauses on coupons. Retailers and manufacturers alike were against this app that allows photos of coupons to be scanned at the register, as this process is unauthorized by many of the companies whose coupons appear in the app. Companies who issue a finite number of paper coupons suddenly found themselves facing the possibility of redeeming thousands more than they planned to offer.
KidStuff, a coupon book publisher that offers coupon books for sale as school fundraisers, sued SnipSnap in the fall of 2013 for distributing digital images and copies of the coupons contained in its books.
On December 23rd, 2014, KidStuff and SnipSnap settled their lawsuit with a filed Consent Order in Pennsylvania. Here are some of the details from the settlement:
- SnipSnap and all its officers, agents, servants, and employees are permanently enjoined from sharing, causing to be shared, or facilitating the sharing of or otherwise participating in the sharing of any KidStuff coupons which contain KidStuff copyrights or trademarks, or any copy or colorable imitation of any such trademark, or any confusingly similar mark, on SnipSnap’s mobile application, or related applications, websites or software programs.
- Each year, SnipSnap shall have the opportunity to purchase a set of KidStuff Coupon Books at the retail price established for the books, in order to allow SnipSnap to enhance its filters.
The Consent Order also states that the settlement “shall not in any way be construed as, or deemed to be evidence of any admission or concession on the part of any Party of any liability or wrongdoing whatsoever, and any liability or wrongdoing is hereby expressly denied and disclaimed by each of the Parties.”