• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Company that told Sony "go ahead, sue us" pulls replacement PS5 plates from sale, says Sony threatened to sue them

Bartski

Gold Member


"With the release of Darkplates, the unthinkable has happened," Dbrand said at the time. "We've taken Sony's monumental achievement in bad design... and fixed it. We can only assume that our prizes are in the mail."

Dbrand's plates contain a microscopic texture, as do the official PS5 plates, but it's slightly different to Sony's PlayStation face button design.

"When you look at this microscopic texture inside the Darkplates, what do you see?" Dbrand said in a section of its website subtitled "Totally legal".

"If your answer is 'a familiar-but-legally-distinct apocalyptic spin on the classic PlayStation button shapes,' you might be one of our lawyers."

"Go ahead, sue us," read the top of the website.

In a reddit post bemoaning the action from Sony, Dbrand said "Darkplates are dead".

In the cease and desist letter, which Dbrand has published online but not dated, lawyers representing Sony accuses the company of trademark and copyright infringement as well as counterfeiting.

The letter goes on to demand Dbrand pull all marketing, promotion and sales of Darkplates worldwide.

"If Dbrand refuses to cooperate in full with these demands," the letter continues, "or delays in responding to this letter, our client will be forced to take the actions it deems necessary to protect its valuable intellectual property rights."

Dbrand's expletive-packed reddit post takes issue with the action, and highlights Sony's complaint about the similarity between PS5 plates and the Darkplates design, even using Netflix hit show Squid Game to defend itself:

"... did you know that Sony believes our distinctive and original 'Illuminati Pyramid / Radiation Hazard / Skull & Crossbones / Angry Robot Head' symbols, engraved inside the Darkplates, infringe on their trademarked button shapes? How the fuck did Squid Game get away with it?"

However, Dbrand insisted it is only agreeing to the takedown "for now".

"While we strongly believe in the consumer's right to customise and modify their hardware with aftermarket components, your Darkplates are now a collector's item," Dbrand said.

"You know what they say - you either die a Darkplates owner, or you live long enough to see yourself become the scalper.

"In closing, fuck you and especially fuck Sony. Talk soon."
 
Last edited:

ManaByte

Gold Member
Company: We DARE you to sue us Sony!

Sony:
challenge accepted training GIF
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
I still don't understand how Sony has any legal ground.

They're going for the copyright angle. It's clear that they were trying to copy Sony's trademarked logos and attempted to be "smart" about it.

Beyond that they could nail them on the counterfeit angle where they're producing knock-off parts for Sony's $500 console without a license. It's different than a controller or hard drive since it's actually part of the console structure and Sony doesn't know if it will affect airflow and potentially being a support headache for them with people buying these and potentially having their systems overheat.
 

lils

Member
ultimately if you buy into walled garden ecosystems like playstation, you have to accept that this can happen. at any point, sony can decide to be a dick and take things away - we saw this before when they were banning non-"family friendly" games from their platform. nothing you can do except make a different choice next time
 

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
Sony can’t resell ya the better looking system in a year if they fix the issue now. Gotta keep an eye on the bottom line.
 
I fail to see how Sony can trademark an a4 sized sheet of plastic with 3 or 4 plastic hooks on it, but fair play to them - they seem to have done it.

The logo is trademarked. PS5 console and controller design is protected by design patents. Also those plates arent just a piece of plastic with hooks in it. The way it curves is purely ornamental very unique looking. This isnt an apple iphone rounded recangle situation going on here.
 

ethomaz

Banned
I still don't understand how Sony has any legal ground.
I mean…

- They copied a part of product without the owner product authorization.
- They copied the logomarca used in the texture of the product again without the owner product authorization.

Well Sony has a lot of legal ground to be fair.

I fail to see how Sony can trademark an a4 sized sheet of plastic with 3 or 4 plastic hooks on it, but fair play to them - they seem to have done it.
All product designs are patented and trademarked… no just Sony.

You need authorization from the product owner to make a copy of any part.
 
Last edited:

Excess

Member
I still don't understand how Sony has any legal ground.
I have never seen case modification subjected to legal action. However, the possibility of the detailed triangle, square, x, circle for patterns may be, though. But why risk it? May as well go back to the drawing board, consult the lawyers about what you can get away with, and then release as a new product.

My ounce of sympathy for Dbrand dried up pretty quickly after reading their response.
This is dbrand's style of marketing. I routinely get subscription newsletters from them in my inbox, and they're always of this tone. I think it's great.
 

TAS

Member
In closing, fuck you and especially fuck Sony. Talk soon.

Love these guys! :messenger_sunglasses: :messenger_tears_of_joy: Glad I picked up my plates. My all-black PS5 is a thing of beauty. :messenger_smiling_hearts:
 
I still don't understand how Sony has any legal ground.
It's their product and the design for the cases may be patented, if this other company was infringing on that patent they'd have no leg to stand on. Personally I wouldn't buy one that wasn't authorized, if that part in the back that the stand clips to was weak and snapped the console could come down off of it and potentially cause a problem.
 

Shakka43

Member
On one hand is funny this happened on the other one it's sad Sony is stopping this without they offering an option themselves.
 

01011001

Banned
they should just change the design a little, do that rounded corner thing on the top, and release them

sony would have zero ground to stand on at that point as the design would be distinctly different at that point
 
they should just change the design a little, do that rounded corner thing on the top, and release them

sony would have zero ground to stand on at that point as the design would be distinctly different at that point
that wouldn't work. you can't just "change the design a little" lol.
 
Top Bottom