Electronic accessory company Casetify is currently facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit over allegedly stealing designs from rival DBrand. DBrand has cited exactly 45 cases of copyright infringement, claiming that Casetify has directly copied its teardown-skin designs made in collaboration with Youtuber Nelson, otherwise known as “JerryRigEverything.”
Cases found in Casetify’s “Inside Out’’ collection included easter eggs from the DBrand collaboration such as Nelson’s famous quote, “Glass is glass and glass breaks,” and even DBrand’s logo. In response to these accusations, Casetify immediately announced the removal of the designs from all platforms.
“I have always loved Casetify designs,” Grace Choi (11), Casetify user, said. “However, I am unsure if I want to continue purchasing their products after this incident. Them going so far as to blatantly placing the brand’s logo onto their designs clearly displays the lack of effort they put into the creativity aspect of their products as well as the deficiency of respect they have for other brands.”
The legal dispute between DBrand and Casetify has produced significant media attention, with over 80,000 mentions within seven days of its release according to media intelligence firm CARMA. Netizens—including media figures such as Austin Evans and Ian Zelbo—have criticized Casetify for committing these actions despite calling itself a “bastion of originality” in an official statement.
“The case is all over social media right now,” Olivia Park (11), social media user, said. “I think it is especially controversial because they shamelessly claimed that they are an authentic brand as a response to a scandal that clearly breaches their originality—which is ridiculous.”
Contrary to the brand’s claim of taking the cases down, netizens discovered a few Casetify “Inside Out” products still listed on big retailers like Best Buy. Casetify also declared it is investigating a denial of service (DDOS) attack on its website coinciding with the time DBrand leveled the allegations. However, netizens say this may just be the brand covering up for its website’s downtime while the disputed products were purged.
“It is hard to trust anything Casetify is saying,” Alex Lee (11), graphic designer, said. “As someone who does art, I know how important it is to maintain originality—especially for a huge brand like Casetify—and scandals like this really cut off their authenticity and credibility.”
Nelson stated that the purpose of the lawsuit is not about producing personal monetary profit and that all financial gain would go toward his “The Rig” off-road wheelchair project if any were to be made.
