Dbrand and JRE are dragging Casetify into court over skin design rip-offs

Update (November 24, 8:15 am ET): Casetify says it's investigating the copyright allegation against the company.

What you need to know

• Dbrand is suing Casetify for allegedly copying its "Teardown" designs, which involve carefully disassembling devices, scanning their internals, and editing the images before printing them.
• Dbrand alleges that Casetify not only stole its designs but also attempted to mask the plagiarism by rearranging parts slightly.
• Casetify is accused of copying 117 different designs, with Dbrand claiming registered copyrights for each product before Casetify's launch.

Dbrand is throwing a lawsuit at Casetify for allegedly ripping off the teardown designs used for some of your favorite skins and cases that make your phones and laptops look like their insides are on display.

According to Dbrand's series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), the company discovered that Casetify was copying its "Teardown" designs by finding hidden clues that Dbrand had purposely placed in its own skins and cases.

Dbrand unveiled the Teardown line in 2019, teaming up with Zack Nelson from the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel. The company says a ton of effort goes into making its skins. They're the result of a meticulous process that involves dismantling devices, scanning their interiors, and carefully editing the images to achieve a polished look.

According to Dbrand, Casetify took a shortcut by using slightly modified versions of its scans for the latter's "Inside Parts" line of phone cases. This raised suspicions among users who noticed the same internal design being used for different phone models from Apple, Samsung, and Google. For instance, Casetify's Samsung Galaxy S23 teardown case was based on the iPhone XR. This prompted Casetify to launch a new line called "Inside Out."

However, Dbrand claims that Casetify swiped the images for its new line straight from Dbrand's designs. Dbrand insists Casetify played around with the parts in the photos to make them look a bit different, but that it's still a case of grand theft image.

There are even little Easter eggs in Dbrand's scans that made it into Casetify's Inside Out line, such as "RO807" tied to Dbrand's branding, and "glass is glass and glass breaks," a catchphrase created by Nelson, who co-created the Teardown line.

Casetify is accused of stealing a whopping 117 of the Teardown designs. Dbrand is flexing its copyright muscles, saying it's got the official registration for each of those designs, and the company did it way before Casetify dropped its "Inside Out" line.

Following Dbrand's accusations, Casetify's website went offline (it is still down at the time of writing), and it pulled the plug on some product listings in certain countries.

Casetify did not immediately respond to Android Central's request for a comment.

Update

Casetify told Android Central in an email that they're currently looking into Dbrand's copyright claim.

"[Casetify] has always been a bastion of originality, and we hold pride in that," a company representative said. "We are currently investigating a copyright allegation against us."

The company also took down the design in question from all platforms. However, Dbrand was quick to point to a BestBuy listing where Casetify's teardown designs can still be purchased.

When asked about its website going offline after Dbrand's claim, Casetify explained that it's looking into a possible DDOS attack that hit its site around the same time as the allegation.

Casetify's website is back up and running, and all customer data is safe, the company said.