[HN Gopher] Dbrand Is Suing Casetify
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       Dbrand Is Suing Casetify
        
       Author : kinduff
       Score  : 107 points
       Date   : 2023-11-23 16:15 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (twitter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (twitter.com)
        
       | drcongo wrote:
       | _Something went wrong, but don't fret -- let's give it another
       | shot._
       | 
       | Twitter is going just great.
        
         | vinniepukh wrote:
         | this happens to me 90% of the time i load twitter. i have to
         | hard refresh the page for it to load.
        
           | bernie_mann wrote:
           | Twitter loads on mobile maybe < 20% of the time. This must be
           | the superapp we were all promised.
           | 
           | Also, slightly relevant: Dbrand skins are excellent. Support.
        
         | mardifoufs wrote:
         | This has happened on twitter since at least 2017 afaik. I
         | couldn't really ever load a tweet linked on say, Reddit,
         | without it happening. I think it's intentional (to lock you out
         | if you don't have an account I think) and not just an error.
         | Refreshing usually works though.
        
       | Veliladon wrote:
       | They used the exact same strategy that map makers did with
       | Phantom Settlements
       | (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_settlement).
        
         | vertis wrote:
         | Also Mountweazel[0]
         | 
         | [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_entry
        
         | photoGrant wrote:
         | Google, et al. Still do this!
        
           | mike_d wrote:
           | 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).
        
       | vinniepukh wrote:
       | wow, shocked at the blatant rip-off
        
       | notRobot wrote:
       | That is actually very damning evidence. You really do need brains
       | to copy and get away with it.
        
         | wongarsu wrote:
         | Had they understood what they were stealing instead of blindly
         | copying every reference and injoke they might have gotten away
         | with it
        
       | wantlotsofcurry wrote:
       | nitter: https://nitter.net/dbrand/status/1727721586856222893#m
        
         | teddyh wrote:
         | Nitter redirect browser add-on:
         | <https://github.com/SimonBrazell/nitter-redirect>
        
       | kinduff wrote:
       | Here is a video from JerryRigEverything explaining the lawsuit
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byfWscC87Vg
        
       | simbolit wrote:
       | Dbrand used trap streets :)
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street
        
         | richbell wrote:
         | 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 wrote:
           | 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.
        
         | victorbjorklund wrote:
         | 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)
        
         | theyknowitsxmas wrote:
         | 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.
        
       | jamies wrote:
       | 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...
        
         | simbolit wrote:
         | 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) .
        
         | jrajav wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | jchw wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | theshrike79 wrote:
         | The dark plate 2.0 without the popped collar look is a lot
         | cleaner in my opinion anyway.
        
       | 0xbadc0de5 wrote:
       | JerryRigEverything has a video about it that's worth a watch:
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byfWscC87Vg
        
       | c2h5oh wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
         | Settlement incoming I bet.
        
       | felipemesquita wrote:
       | Reminds me of this "stolen from Apple" story:
       | https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor...
        
       | MR4D wrote:
       | One question that nobody has asked yet - if Cassidy copied this,
       | what else did they copy?
       | 
       | I'm betting there's more.
        
       | whycome wrote:
       | There's this other thing: Can apple/samsung/google claim a
       | copyright to the case designs based on the design of its
       | hardware? It really wouldn't be a stretch for Apple to say the
       | specific layout of its macbook or whatever is a type of
       | copyrightable design. Right? I mean, it reflects specific
       | hardware layout design.
        
         | tekeous wrote:
         | This is unlikely to succeed, because a)it is an image of their
         | product taken with their own camera - so if Apple wins here the
         | precedent is you can't take photos OF an iPhone?? Like hell
         | that's ever going to happen, and Apple would be idiots to do
         | that anyway, seeing your friends in photos with iPhones in
         | clear view is just free advertising and plays into Apples thing
         | for "Apple users are elite".
         | 
         | And b)Apple's copyright refers to hardware design. Dbrand
         | didn't make hardware - they made an image, or skin, or case.
         | None of these are applicable competitors to Apple's iPhone.
        
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       (page generated 2023-11-23 23:02 UTC)