Casetify copied dbrand’s Teardown skins too well, gets sued
JerryRigEverything, everyone’s favorite gadget destroyer, worked very closely with dbrand to bring tech enthusiasts the Teardown skins. The skins were a peek into the devices’ innards, with some Easter eggs peppered across them by dbrand and Zack for fun. Casetify decided to do a simple copy-paste of the designs, and copied even the Easter eggs which are not actually in the actual device, earning them a lawsuit.
Casetify plagiarized dbrand Teardown skins hilariously
Didn't know that @Samsung Flip has a foldable battery pic.twitter.com/D2j4s3ZVLh
— Korporátní správce sítě (@WillCisco4Food) March 13, 2023
Casetify originally had a case that showed what was inside your phone, albeit erroneously. Instead of having custom designs for every supported phone, Casetify decided to reuse an old iPhone’s innards and call it a day. This case was available for various phones, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 which ended up getting a comically folding battery.
Exhibit A: The phrase “GLASS IS GLASS AND GLASS BREAKS”.
— dbrand (@dbrand) November 23, 2023
This is a catch-phrase coined by Teardown co-creator @ZacksJerryRig. This tagline does not exist on the internal hardware of any smartphone, yet somehow appears on @Casetify’s products. (2/6) pic.twitter.com/UpB2u5zg3M
After sometime, they decided to copy dbrand’s more detailed design. However, Casetify also failed to pay attention to the finer details and Easter eggs hidden across the design, netting them this court case. dbrand tweeted a number of Easter eggs that accidentally found their way into Casetify’s designs, clearly identifying them as carbon copies, but with poorer print quality than dbrand. They were even silly enough to copy-paste Zack’s famous catchphrase, “GLASS IS GLASS AND GLASS BREAKS”.
Casetify appears to have taken down their entire website at the time of writing. I presume they are busy removing their Inside Out cases to minimize damage. At the same time, dbrand has announced the new X-Ray skins and cases that are created by x-raying the actual devices to get a more artistic look into the inner workings. dbrand and Zack has mentioned that you can buy these to support their legal endeavor.
With all that said, and no matter how much I want to back dbrand that’s clearly in the right here, Casetify is based in Hong Kong, which is now a part of China. Intellectual property and patents in China are more akin to suggestions than actual enforceable laws, especially when it involves foreign parties, so I am definitely looking forward to seeing what happens next.
