Dbrand pulls PS5 "darkplates" from sale entirely then goes on a Twitter rant

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, Arika S said:

i don't necessarily agree with sony entirely, but dBrand did kind of bring this upon themselves by antagonizing them.

Yeah, TBC I have no issue with Sony protecting their IP, I just think its a dick move for consumers. Dbrand are probably right, the intent from Sony is to license the designs out to third parties so they can control it, take a cut and have the third party do all the hard work.

[jagdtigger]

7 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Yeah, TBC I have no issue with Sony protecting their IP

The only thing they did is to give Chinese cheapo cr@p an edge because they will just show a middle finger and ignore them. Good luck on a Chinese court....
(The USA is the other way around, they think their laws apply globally so thats why everyone and their mother sues others for ip/copyright/other bs "violation".)

[LAwLz]

2 hours ago, Arika S said:

i don't necessarily agree with sony entirely, but dBrand did kind of bring this upon themselves by antagonizing them.

I agree. I am so sick and tired of companies doing this edgy and "look at how cool we are" marketing. dBrand is notirously bad in this regard. It's the same kind of marketing people like Jake Paul does to his prepubescent audience. I don't like the whole "it's so cool to be an asshole who doesn't give a fuck about anything", and it becomes especially cringe when it's a multi million company who are just trying to make easily impressed teenagers want to buy their products. 

 

I think Sony is (or should be) in the wrong but if it makes dBrand shut the fuck up then some good comes from it. 

[wanderingfool2]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

I think Sony is (or should be) in the wrong but if it makes dBrand shut the fuck up then some good comes from it. 

Except we already saw the results of what happens to the companies that just roll over...Sony threatens them, there is a small amount of press coverage and everyone forgets about it.  At least the way that dBrand is doing it, it is villainizing Sony so they will face more backlash (and hopefully would change their approach)

 

3 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

As for the dbrand case: idiotic decision from sony, didn't even have any of sony's logo

Going to start this off by saying I don't think dBrand really did anything wrong (or at least I don't think they should be getting in trouble)...legally though it might be a different matter.  With that said dBrand did sort of use the iconic square, triangle, circle, X combo.  Instead they used robot (square), Illuminati symbol (triangle), nuclear (circle) and  skull and crossbones (X)...so given it's for a PS5 product Sony might have a leg to stand on in  terms of trademark infringement.

[TetraSky]

Watch Sony NEVER release a single custom faceplate for the lifetime of the console.

Even though they aren't losing a single cent off custom plates, since they aren't selling any themselves. They've going after these since the release of the console. How come they still haven't come up with anything? I get that it "takes time", but considering anyone can make them if they so much as try a little bit, that time thing is BS. They just don't want their products touched by anyone.

[Dominik W]

I have a very strong opinion about this, and Sony. I'll leave it up to you guys to imagine how strong.

[vetali]

Well, dbrand got what they asked for. Well played cringe meme brand.

 

6 hours ago, leadeater said:

Well.. I'm still not going to buy an Xbox. I wonder what Sony would have to do to make me move away from PlayStation? I like my PlayStations too much lol

What got me to drop Xbox was the Balmer/Don Mattrick era. I don't think Sony is anywhere near that right now, but some of their choices on content delivery and peripherals reminds me of it. I am back on Xbox after Phil Spencer essentially 180'd Xbox.

 

Now, if they could just make an elite controller that doesn't kill itself after 1 year of light usage...

[Derangel]

4 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

eh

Sony playstation died the moment they moved SEC headquarters in the US. Been making garbage, trash, brain dead decision ever since.

imho ever since: Old japanese man thinking >>>>>>> American idiocy

Miss the days when sony had jap studios making fun, interesting, weird, quirky games. Now they're pretty much all the same, just change the story and the paint.

As for the dbrand case: idiotic decision from sony, didn't even have any of sony's logo. What next? C&D on skins that can be applied on any of their toys?

Go after anyone who tries to cosmetically mod their PS?

 

Sony's recent decisions have fuck all to do with "American idiocy" or whatever country-related bullshit you want to use. It's all Jim Ryan. There have been several Americans in charge of things at the Playstation division, notably Jack Tretton and Shawn Layton two former SCE execs that were incredibly well liked by the gaming audience. Sony moved everything to the US division back in 2016, they didn't start screwing around with things until Ryan was put in charge a few years ago.

[StDragon]

Can Sony patent hole dimensions and placement? If not, I'd say the market is ripe to make a custom case, then gut the PS5 hardware and transplant to a new case.

[WolframaticAlpha]

1 hour ago, vetali said:

What got me to drop Xbox was the Balmer/Don Mattrick era.

you do realize that ballmer has been the ceo before the og xbox and stayed there till after the xbone?

[jagdtigger]

31 minutes ago, StDragon said:

gut the PS5 hardware and transplant to a new case

There goes your warranty.....

[StDragon]

5 minutes ago, jagdtigger said:

There goes your warranty.....

Be brave soldier.

[jagdtigger]

3 minutes ago, StDragon said:

Be brave soldier.

Nope, 3 year extended warranty FTW.....

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

So is the problem mainly because the shape/curvature of the plastic piece is almost a 1:1 to the original minus the microtexture pattern? 

 

If so... then I'm mixed about this. If I'm not mistaken, IP is an annoying thing where you cannot cherry pick which instances you want to sue. You either go after every instance or basically completely loose the right to protect it. 

[vetali]

13 minutes ago, WolframaticAlpha said:

you do realize that ballmer has been the ceo before the og xbox and stayed there till after the xbone?

Not remotely sure what the point here. Hes responsible for Don Mattrick. Once the Kinect came out, Xbox was no longer a product I wanted to play games on.

[Emzijs]

9 hours ago, leadeater said:

Well.. I'm still not going to buy an Xbox. I wonder what Sony would have to do to make me move away from PlayStation? I like my PlayStations too much lol

 I really love Gran Turismo way too much to consider Xbox. And I feel guilty about it.... just a little bit.

[Dracarris]

2 hours ago, jagdtigger said:

There goes your warranty.....

JFC then mount the old case back before you make a warranty claim.

[Ein0r]

How valid is dbrand's car part comparison? Would everything be fine if dbrand had offered plates with a slightly different curvature, or a slightly different mechanism to attach their plates? 

[Derangel]

28 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Except, Sony is known for strong arming, as is Nintendo, the industry.  They make up lawsuits to harass and scare companies smaller than them who aren't violating their IP.  Considering part of it is to intentionally harm them financially that makes is fraud too.  

 

Sadly, I think Sony is in the right here, legally speaking. Copyright laws (including patents, trademarks, etc) are all kinds of BS and give mega corps like Sony a ton of protections while screwing over everyone else. The design patent of the PS5 would likely cover the shape of the side panels. It could very well also cover the way they connect to the system. The bit about the shapes might be a bit sketchy, but that would rely pretty heavily on how good each side's lawyer is and what the judge or jury thinks.

 

In order to fix this stuff we either need laws allowing 3rd parties to make replacement parts (right to repair) or we need a complete overhaul of the entire copyright system (desperately).

 

[CTR640]

14 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Literally anybody can apply for a design patent, you don't need to be a corporation.

Like it happened to Ford and other car manufacturers somewhere in the 1920's or 30's? Some jackass patented engines and if the stories are true, Ford won the case and since then, that jackass could fuck off.

 

And on topic, holy shit, man! Sony is one of the most biggest whiney crybabies ever exist.

[InstantNewt]

10 hours ago, LAwLz said:

I agree. I am so sick and tired of companies doing this edgy and "look at how cool we are" marketing. dBrand is notirously bad in this regard. It's the same kind of marketing people like Jake Paul does to his prepubescent audience. I don't like the whole "it's so cool to be an asshole who doesn't give a fuck about anything", and it becomes especially cringe when it's a multi million company who are just trying to make easily impressed teenagers want to buy their products.

Right there with you. Dbrand even somehow used this cringe fest of a marketing strategy to shame people into thinking charging $5 additional for shipping when it already cost $15 for a phone skin made with $0.02 of materials was okay. Their products should cost $5 with free shipping at most, but no, because they’re super clever edgy “robots” they get a pass on overcharging for a fancy sticker. 
 

Dbrand specifically asked for this and is now throwing a fit because Sony said “K” and slapped them with a cease and desist. Now they’re trying to use their dumb marketing to get people on their side. 

[CTR640]

5 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

I mean what's next?  Are they going to sue people for using the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in any relation to their consoles?  I mean they own the patent, don't they?  Can't call games "*insert title here* 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5"  Until the PS6 you can start at 6.

Actually... Sony sued Huawei because of their Huawei GT smartwatches. You only have to guess one time why....

[Blademaster91]

36 minutes ago, InstantNewt said:

Right there with you. Dbrand even somehow used this cringe fest of a marketing strategy to shame people into thinking charging $5 additional for shipping when it already cost $15 for a phone skin made with $0.02 of materials was okay. Their products should cost $5 with free shipping at most, but no, because they’re super clever edgy “robots” they get a pass on overcharging for a fancy sticker. 
 

Dbrand specifically asked for this and is now throwing a fit because Sony said “K” and slapped them with a cease and desist. Now they’re trying to use their dumb marketing to get people on their side. 

I agree, it doesn't cost dBrand $15 to make a sticker, and it shouldn't cost a business $5 to ship an item in an envelope. I dislike dBrand as they have that annoying asshole attitude that somehow their customers like.

Although sony are being assholes also, it doesn't harm them for a third party to be making a side panel.

[InstantNewt]

3 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

I agree, it doesn't cost dBrand $15 to make a sticker, and it shouldn't cost a business $5 to ship an item in an envelope. I dislike dBrand as they have that annoying asshole attitude that somehow their customers like.

Although sony are being assholes also, it doesn't harm them for a third party to be making a side panel.

TBH I think there are 2 reasons Sony is going after them.
 

1) Dbrand marketing poked the bear with their “Go ahead, sue us” comment.

 

2) Since Dbrand isn’t a Chinese shell company that can disappear and reappear under a new name, they’re a prime target for Sony. Canada actually cares about IP laws, same with the US. Dbrand receiving a C&D is pretty much Sony making it well known that they won’t be bullied by a smaller company with their own IP. 
 

IMO, Sony isn’t being unreasonable here. Dbrand started all of this and Sony is making it well known they aren’t in the mood to play. Sure it’s a cosmetic thing and doesn’t really hurt Sony yet, but this is a well deserved reality check for the loudmouth idiots over at Dbrand. 

[InstantNewt]

5 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Well, Sony is breaking two laws here and is also doing their usual strong arm game.  So yes, they are being unreasonable regardless of how you feel about DBrand.  DBrand isn't a company I buy from, again, but larger Japanese companies do this thing all the time to say "kiss the ring".

What laws exactly has Sony violated? I’m not a lawyer and as far as I can tell, neither are you so neither of us is in the position of saying what is and isn’t legal. 
 

Funny you should mention large Japanese companies doing this. Nintendo seems to have been mentioned several times here. 
 

Want to take a guess as to why Nintendo doesn’t have analog triggers in their controllers save for the GameCube and Wii Classic controllers? They were sued by a smaller company for IP infringement and initially lost. 
 

Sony is just doing what every other company on the planet would do when faced with another company reverse engineering their design and selling it. I find them sending a cease and desist to a company profiting off their design to be perfectly reasonable. If Dbrand sticks to their guns and begins selling them again, we’ll find out what actual lawyers say. 
 

Maybe they side with Dbrand. If I were a betting man I’d say they won’t.