Dbrand Serves ‘Multi-Million Dollar’ Case Against CASETiFY For Lookalike Designs
Image via Dbrand
A case-by-case basis: Dbrand, a Toronto-based accessory, has filed a lawsuit against CASETiFY, accusing its rival of infringing its iconic Teardown skins and case designs.
In 2019, Dbrand partnered with YouTuber JerryRigEverything, rolling out specially crafted decals for smartphones, tablets, and laptops that bear the appearance of transparent devices and seemingly showcase their internal components.
Dbrand is suing Casetify for stealing off its Teardown designs 👀 pic.twitter.com/bn8JHxGjyM
— Mr Android FHD (@android_fhd) November 23, 2023
.@ZacksJerryRig collabs with @dbrand to make a teardown skin
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) November 23, 2023
They add easter eggs and maximize accuracy
CASETiFY comes along with their own "Inside Out" skin with the same theme...
that rips Zach's designs, easter eggs included
Lawsuit incoming: https://t.co/afQ1O3HaJD pic.twitter.com/HFhrPtZHcy
The “multi-million dollar” conflict centers around Dbrand’s allegation that CASETiFY replicated 117 of its designs, all of which are covered by Dbrand’s registered copyrights. According to the plaintiff, 45 of the accused’s Inside Out products are not just similar, but they also allegedly feature distinct elements that are signature to Dbrand’s brand identity.
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
Of note are specific Easter eggs and tags that Dbrand claims are integral to its branding—like the string ‘R0807’ and the ‘11.11’ watt-hours metric, referencing its founding date and X (formerly Twitter) handle, respectively—which are reflected in CASETiFY’s products, as well.
Exhibit C: The string “R0807”.
— dbrand (@dbrand) November 23, 2023
This is a reference to our Twitter handle, @robot. This string does not appear on the ZIF connector of any smartphone, yet somehow appears on @Casetify’s products. (4/6) pic.twitter.com/Bvgss91Zip
Exhibit E: The “11.11” watt-hours.
— dbrand (@dbrand) November 23, 2023
This is, again, a reference to our founding date. This erroneous watt-hour metric is not on the battery of any smartphone, yet somehow appears on @Casetify’s products. (6/6) pic.twitter.com/3S6Ahu49K3
In a video titled ‘Copy and Pasteify’ that was published on Dbrand’s social media channels, Zack Nelson, the personality behind JerryRigEverything, highlights similarities between the “artistically perfected” Teardown accessories and a MacBook skin from CASETiFY’s Inside Out collection.
Copy & Pasteify pic.twitter.com/odeMc4y3Id
— dbrand (@dbrand) November 23, 2023
Following the discovery, CASETiFY’s website temporarily went offline, and the Inside Out series was no longer available when it returned.
[via Engadget, 9to5Google, MobileSyrup, images via various sources]
This article was crafted with assistance from an AI engine, and has been manually reviewed & edited.
