Dbrand Is Suing Casetify

The irony here is that Dbrand used to taunt Sony to sue them for making nearly identical, but black instead of white "fins" for the PlayStation 5.

I believe they had to end up changing the design in their 2nd iteration...

jchw · 2 years ago

While Dbrand definitely seems keen to pull some stunts, the difference between this versus that is that at least in that case, Dbrand still had to put in the work to replicate the PlayStation 5 faceplates. It's not as though Dbrand owns the inside of a phone: had Casetify done the work and simply created a similar product to Dbrand, this wouldn't be a lawsuit. It's because they stole the end product from Dbrand, which would be more like if Dbrand stole Sony's design files to make the faceplates. Whether what they were trying to pull with the PS5 was actually legal or not is another question, but also, in my opinion it certainly wasn't a dirty theft either way.

jrajav · 2 years ago

It would be unsurprising if that was all intended from the start as a viral marketing campaign. I don't remember hearing that they ever got in any trouble with Sony, and they're pretty infamous for "taunting" others to sue them (and similar stunt language like "our lawyers told us we couldn't make this") in all their marketing.

simbolit · 2 years ago

they significantly changed the "darkplates". The 2.0 lawyer-approved version doesn't even have the distinctive "fins" (or collar or whatever you want to call it) .

theshrike79 · 2 years ago

The dark plate 2.0 without the popped collar look is a lot cleaner in my opinion anyway.

Dbrand used trap streets :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street

richbell · 2 years ago

Trap streets are at least traps — that is, difficult to identify as such. What possible reason is there to copy things like "1 1 1 1" or "RO8O7"?

It seeks like Casetify ripped off Dbrand in the laziest way possible.

cfiggers · 2 years ago

Casetify almost definitely never looked at actual internals of actual smartphones, so there was no way for them to know the difference between faithfully replicated details and easter eggs.

theyknowitsxmas · 2 years ago

Microsoft did this with the Xbox 360. Your serial number would enumerate on the rings under the X sphere on the dashboard to find NDA breakers.

victorbjorklund · 2 years ago

Maybe same effect but sounds like the purpose here was to include jokes for their customers (otherwise they probably would have included other things than jokes that can be identified by anyone with a brain)

kinduff · 2 years ago

Here is a video from JerryRigEverything explaining the lawsuit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byfWscC87Vg

Veliladon · 2 years ago

They used the exact same strategy that map makers did with Phantom Settlements (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_settlement).

vertis · 2 years ago

Also Mountweazel[0]

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_entry

photoGrant · 2 years ago

Google, et al. Still do this!

mike_d · 2 years ago

I think all the cases people have found with Google Maps are issues with upstream data providers. There are much more subtle ways to catch theft that do not have a negative user experience (the angle an alley connects two roads, or the curve of a highway).

jamies · 2 years ago

notRobot · 2 years ago

That is actually very damning evidence. You really do need brains to copy and get away with it.

wongarsu · 2 years ago

Had they understood what they were stealing instead of blindly copying every reference and injoke they might have gotten away with it

wantlotsofcurry · 2 years ago

nitter: https://nitter.net/dbrand/status/1727721586856222893#m

teddyh · 2 years ago

Nitter redirect browser add-on: <https://github.com/SimonBrazell/nitter-redirect>

c2h5oh · 2 years ago

Casetify page went dark for a while (HTTP 504) and just returned with landing page and all "Inside Out" products wiped clean from the page..

Rapzid · 2 years ago

Settlement incoming I bet.

0xbadc0de5 · 2 years ago

JerryRigEverything has a video about it that's worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byfWscC87Vg