Dbrand is suing Casetify for allegedly stealing its case and skin designs

Accessory maker Dbrand has filed a "multi-million dollar" lawsuit against Casetify for allegedly ripping off the designs of its "transparent" Teardown products. The skins and cases, created in collaboration with YouTuber Zack "JerryRigEverything" Nelson, are designed to look like the guts of the device they're applied to, such as smartphones, laptops and gaming systems. Dbrand and Nelson say Casetify stole those designs for its "Inside Out" line.

According to Nelson, he and Dbrand "go to extreme lengths to ensure that every Teardown skin is an accurate representation" of the inside of each device. However, in a video and thread on X (formerly Twitter), the collaborators point out that they add several Easter eggs for fans to find.

Among other things, they claim Casetify's Inside Out cases have a poorly masked version of a label found on Teardown products that features Nelson's signature phrase "glass is glass, and glass breaks.” Nelson took a further dig at Casetify by saying the print quality of its cases is "extraordinarily subpar." Dbrand's logo even allegedly appears on a Casetify case.

In his video, Nelson says the saga stems back to earlier this year, when an X user claimed Casetify was selling a "transparent" case for a Samsung phone that displays the internals of an iPhone. Dbrand poked fun at Casetify for the apparent slip up.

Casetify later rolled out the Inside Out line, which appeared to have more accurate representations of the guts of the devices they're marketed for. Nelson points out that after using a highly detailed scanner to create a copy of the internals of a device, the Teardown team spends several hours cleaning up the scan. It even takes some creative liberties, such as exposing a charging coil to make a case look more appealing. According to Nelson and Dbrand, Casetify's Inside Out skins and cases match up exactly with the modified designs they used for the Teardown line.

In their suit, which they filed in a Toronto court this week, Dbrand says Casetify infringed upon its copyrighted works with 45 Inside Out products. It's asking for unspecified punitive and exemplary damages, among other things.

By Thursday afternoon, a few hours after Nelson and Dbrand published their accusations, Casetify had pulled every Inside Out product from its website. Engadget has contacted Casetify for comment. Meanwhile, Dbrand and Nelson took the opportunity to unveil a new set of X-ray skins.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dbrand-is-suing-casetify-for-allegedly-stealing-its-case-and-skin-designs-221012321.html?src=rss