Tech accessory company dbrand has canceled its Steam Machine Companion Cube enclosure effective immediately because it didn't ask Valve for permission to make it in the first place.
Someone pointed this out in another thread, and I think it’s worth repeating: dbrand has a history of doing this and has had the same thing happen before when they produced unlicensed faceplates for the PS5.
In April 2024, an Indian-origin customer named Bhuwan Chitransh complained about a defective MacBook skin on Twitter. Dbrand responded by mocking his surname with the tweet: “Your last name is basically shit rash, be serious.” […] CEO Adam Ijaz acknowledged the remark as a “severe lapse in judgment”
I feel like the thing with the PS5 faceplates was bs. They’re just solid colour plastic. But the companion cube one I can understand, as that it was using the design of a “character”(?) that Valve owns without permission
I don’t know a thing about IP laws, so I can’t judge what shape of plastic is required to provide a basis for an IP rights violation. The reason I linked this was that I would take this entire story with a huge grain of salt, considering this company did this before and has apparently not learned all that much from that experience.
Someone pointed this out in another thread, and I think it’s worth repeating: dbrand has a history of doing this and has had the same thing happen before when they produced unlicensed faceplates for the PS5.
Holy shit that’s an understatement!
My guess would be that it also involved more than a little bit of alcohol.
I feel like the thing with the PS5 faceplates was bs. They’re just solid colour plastic. But the companion cube one I can understand, as that it was using the design of a “character”(?) that Valve owns without permission
IIRC the original plates included trademarked logos belonging to Sony, and dbrand literally invited Sony to sue them in their marketing.
I don’t know a thing about IP laws, so I can’t judge what shape of plastic is required to provide a basis for an IP rights violation. The reason I linked this was that I would take this entire story with a huge grain of salt, considering this company did this before and has apparently not learned all that much from that experience.
Yeah, I get that. I agree that dbrand seem quite sketchy with all that stuff you linked to. Especially the Twitter thing, that’s just fucked up.