Many fans wish for black side plates for their PS5 consoles, but Sony has previously prevented sales by third-party vendors. One of these sellers has now gone so far as to provoke the publisher with their sales. Now Sony is reacting.
What are these side plates? Currently, the PS5 is only available in white. However, the white side covers of the console, called faceplates or side plates, are easily replaceable. Sony had even shown in a video how to disassemble the PS5.
For this reason, various vendors started adding colorful side plates to their offerings. Because the flashy design of the PS5 does not appeal to every buyer of the console. However, one manufacturer has now crossed a line, and Sony has reacted.
This is what the manufacturer did: On the manufacturer’s website, dbrand, a few months ago, one could see various stylish side plate designs along with plenty of jabs at Sony. For instance, it was stated that they deserved a Nobel Prize for fixing Sony’s “monumental failures in poor design.”
In the descriptions of the side plate offers for the PS5, dbrand mocked Sony and provoked the publisher to a lawsuit. They also joked about Sony on Twitter. dbrand even posted a photo of a plate with the caption: “Get your [plate] before Sony’s lawyers do.
Sony reacts to the manufacturer’s provocations
Here’s how Sony is reacting now: The dbrand team posted a letter from Sony on Reddit (via reddit.com) In the letter, Sony’s lawyers demand that dbrand “immediately and permanently cease all marketing and promotional activities for faceplates with the product configuration of the PS5 faceplates from SIE or any similar product configuration, including without limitation all faceplates currently offered for sale on dbrand.com.”
This specifically concerns the violation of intellectual property rights, as the product design of the PS5 is protected, and manufacturers are only allowed to produce backplates and other accessories for the PS5 with Sony’s permission. However, Sony had not granted dbrand such permission.
The manufacturers’ response on Reddit was overall unfriendly: They couldn’t understand Sony’s behavior since they were only offering backplates and were not a loss-making venture for Sony. After all, anyone wanting to use a backplate still needs a PS5:
Instead of answering them, we’d rather get straight to the point: We have decided to comply with the demands of the terrorists… For now.
(via reddit.com)
If you currently visit the official dbrand site, you will find that the PS5 plates have indeed disappeared from there. Instead, there’s a long list of all articles published on the topic.
dbrand is not an unknown entity and sells, in addition to such side plates, so-called skins for smartphones and protective covers for small devices. For example, the vendor had a YouTuber throw iPod cases at him for money to demonstrate how durable his product was. The community found this extremely funny and praised the action.
Manufacturers of side plates are in a tough situation
The discussion about dbrand is not the first case where Sony is taking action against manufacturers of such side plates. The manufacturers who offer colorful plates for the PS5 are hitting a nerve with many users who are not enthusiastic about the white design of the PS5.
For example, in the case of Customize My Plates, they were forced by Sony’s lawyers to cease the sale of colorful side plates. Here, Sony argued that the colorful side plates, like the PS5, are the intellectual property of Sony and that they would take action against the company as soon as the plates hit the market.
Thus, Sony’s reaction is also not surprising in this case. The company behind the PS5 has always consistently acted against all offers such as backplates or black designs for the PS5.
What do you think? Did the vendor go too far, and did Sony have to respond, or do you think Sony’s actions are wrong? Let us know in the comments.
