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

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
My inbox...


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One of their Darkplate emails...

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I mean, this their image. I think what is important is the end-product. There are ton of unlikable firm, with great products (eg. Apple). This going to affect end customers, which sucks. I know someone who bought their plates and he said they are really well build. That it's worth the price of admission.
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
Simple really - I’m sure that by buying PS5 or any Aony product you agree to give the company the right to determine what can and can’t be used with PlayStation. It’s a way to get easy licensing money . I doubt DBrand asked Sony to make them a partner.

This is no different that Nintendo fighting streamers making money off Nintendo’s IP without profit sharing revenue. YouTube seems to thing Nintendo has a case.
 

Ailike

Member
Heh. I love seeing "zomg anti-consumer!!!1" thread without first acknowledging actual things like this kinda stuff. And this dude above is saying its no different than streaming? Some of you go through some hoops, huh?
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Good luck sony at trying to sue the 1000s of cowboy shops in asian shantytowns selling PS5 faceplates on ebay and other internet sellers.
 
Does this mean you don’t understand the simple concept? Consumers have options to buy custom plates, but if Sony prohibits it, how is that good for you or me? It simply means I can’t buy them. I’m the consumer.

Is Sony prohibiting it for companies that want to license the product from them?

Im really curious what the answer to that is.
 

SSfox

Member
I hope by summer 2022 Sony will drop PS5 black edition models. Gotta say I'm not too big of a fan of the black and white mix thing.
 
I fail to understand what Sony's problem is with the faceplates, like, you got your 499$ for the consoles, fuck off.

I don't believe it's the faceplates that they have issues with. More like they want a cut of the sales from something they patented. That's my guess anyways.
 

BlackTron

Member
Unfortunately you failure to understand how
Business works. You need a license to make accessories.Its same for MS Nintendo and anyone else.

You don't need a license to make accessories. For example 8bitdo controllers are not licensed. That said there are things you gotta be careful to either do or not do depending on whether you have the license.
 
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That's a great question.

One that needs to be answered before saying that Sony is against those plates being produced.

It's possible that they are planning to make them themselves so they don't want competition from Dbrand. But it's also possible that they want a cut from something that they have a patent on.

From the looks of it Dbrand was planning on releasing a product based off Sony's patent without consulting them first. But they could have asked them beforehand and got denied. That's the part we don't know.
 
You don't need a license to make accessories. For example 8bitdo controllers are not licensed. That said there are things you gotta be careful to either do or not do depending on whether you have the license.

True like those 8bitdo controllers that mimic the SNES controller for example. But maybe those designs are so old that the patent doesn't apply anymore. I can't imagine Nintendo letting something like that escape them.

When it comes to the plates they are part of a recent patent that Sony has. Licensing could be a possibility since the patents are still valid. I'm not sure how far patent infringement goes since it seems like Dbrand is only changing the color and not the actual design.
 

Topher

Gold Member
One that needs to be answered before saying that Sony is against those plates being produced.

It's possible that they are planning to make them themselves so they don't want competition from Dbrand. But it's also possible that they want a cut from something that they have a patent on.

From the looks of it Dbrand was planning on releasing a product based off Sony's patent without consulting them first. But they could have asked them beforehand and got denied. That's the part we don't know.

I think Sony fully intends to license third party side plates for PS5, but I'm wondering if third parties are waiting for a larger install base before investing in the venture.
 

BlackTron

Member
True like those 8bitdo controllers that mimic the SNES controller for example. But maybe those designs are so old that the patent doesn't apply anymore. I can't imagine Nintendo letting something like that escape them.

When it comes to the plates they are part of a recent patent that Sony has. Licensing could be a possibility since the patents are still valid. I'm not sure how far patent infringement goes since it seems like Dbrand is only changing the color and not the actual design.
There were definitely third party controllers for SNES at retail in the 90s. There are lots of unlicensed controllers for more modern systems too, though generally what you will find at retail these days are officially licensed stuff.

My point is just that you can't make a blanket statement that all third party accessories have to be officially licensed. It's just not true, and never was.

I'm not a lawyer, but my take on the dbrand situation isn't that they violated the law, it's that Sony simply didn't like them and decided to bully them away. They probably have a lot more money to lose trying to fight Sony in court than they have to gain by selling faceplates, and Sony knows this, so they packed it up without a fight.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Still so ridiculous on Sony's end IMO. I mean, if you're gonna take legal action, at least wait until you put out 1st party accessories or something. They're clearly a demand for it, but nothing is being done. Except suing, lol.

I said it in the other thread, but I'm glad I supported Dbrand and got mine while they were still available.
 
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