Almost every smartphone today is constructed from slippery metal and glass, so cases are an essential accessory for the more clumsy among us. Phone cases are big business, and it looks like two of the leading makers are headed to court. Dbrand has filed a
lawsuit against Casetify, claiming the latter copied and slightly modified its "Teardown" cases to release its own line of X-ray themed products. And the evidence looks pretty damning.
Dbrand's Teardown cases (see above) are created in partnership with YouTuber Zack "JerryRigEverything" Nelson, who's internet-famous for
snapping phones in half. These cases feature images of the device's internals, captured for each phone, computer, handheld console, or what have you. The images are then edited and customized to work well for a case. The Teardown line comes as vinyl wraps that can be applied to the phone itself or to one of Dbrand's custom Grip cases.
Casetify first released its "Inside Out" line of cases earlier in 2023, but it was called out for recycling images for multiple devices. Dbrand even poked fun at its rival online. Well, Casetify appears to have learned the wrong lesson from that experience. According to the suit, Casetify simply copied Dbrand's copyrighted images and slapped them on its cases.
Rather than limit this to the courtroom, Dbrand has posted several images of Casetify products that show clear instances of copied designs. Since first releasing Teardown cases several years back, Dbrand and Nelson have always included some easter eggs in the edited versions of their images. For example, the first round of cases featured the Epstein suicide meme in tiny font. The Inside Out cases include JerryRigEverything catchphrases, references to Dbrand's founding date, and the Dbrand website favicon. These images are incontrovertibly copied from Dbrand products. If the Casetify images shown by Dbrand are legit, this looks like an open and shut case of
copyright infringement.
Getting into a public altercation with Dbrand is probably the worst case scenario for any tech accessory maker. Dbrand has a particular breed of snark that can be abrasive even when it's not suing anyone. With the company now brimming with (seemingly justified) indignation, Casetify is getting dragged on social media. Its
response to the lawsuit is also being mocked after it said it is "a bastion of originality." Naturally, Casetify denies the claims, and Dbrand expresses excitement at the prospect of hearing Casetify's lawyers explain this in court.
