Dbrand to Pursue Legal Action against Casetify over Plagiarized Designs
There’s an ongoing trope in western pop culture about awkward Thanksgiving gatherings caused by conflict between two or more individuals in the same gathering, and this ongoing development between mobile accessory makers dbrand and Casetify is perhaps is one unfortunate instance of life imitating art.
In a statement via dbrand’s official social media account, the case manufacturer declared that it will initiate legal proceedings against Casetify, another mobile accessory manufacturer, following the former’s discovery of several plagiarized case designs based on dbrand’s “Teardown” edition skins. The issue was also highlighted by YouTuber Zack Nelson via a video on his channel.
Exhibit A: The phrase “GLASS IS GLASS AND GLASS BREAKS”.
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
— dbrand (@dbrand) November 23, 2023
The Teardown skin designs – developed by dbrand and Nelson – were spotted on several of Casetify’s “Inside Out” series cases. Dbrand’s Teardown skins feature printed internal hardware components of specific smartphones, alongside some signature dbrand “easter eggs” which are unique to the company’s products alone.
These exact same designs however – including the dbrand easter eggs – appear to have been repurposed for Casetify’s own line of mobile phone cases. Dbrand’s social media post highlighted several instances where the designs were practically one and the same. With that said, Casetify has since issued a statement regarding the matter:
CASETiFY has always been a bastion of originality, and we hold pride in that. We are currently investigating a copyright allegation against us. We have immediately removed the design in question from all platforms. We are also investigating a DDOS attack that disrupted our website around the time the allegation surfaced. All systems are back to normal. All customer information is safe. We thank you for all your encouraging messages during this challenging time!