Canadian-based customization company Dbrand has once again defied Sony Interactive Entertainment by making a new PS5 plate design.
After telling SIE to “go ahead, sue us” last time and pulling their replacement PS5 plates from sale anyways after SIE really threatened to sue them, Dbrand is once again selling a new design of their PS5 plates. Once again, they are taunting SIE to sue them.
Last February 2021, the customization company launched its replacement PS5 plates called Darkplates and also made quite a bold statement. Last week, the threat of getting sued got real and the company had to give in to the demands and declared “Darkplates are dead.”
After a week, a new design has emerged and has been dubbed as Darkplates 2.0. They have insisted that their design “successfully closes the loop on this dispute and neutralizes any future infringement claims from Sony.” Yes, they are that confident.
Dbrand claims on a Reddit post that the original version of PS5 Darkplates got pulled was because of SIE getting a design patent for the shape of the console’s side panels. They never thought that SIE would get that design patent, but they did and that is the reason for removing version 1. They had two options at that time, which was getting in court with SIE and the possibility of paying millions of dollars or they make something else. They chose the latter.
Version 2.0 was born and it looks quite different than the original that actually looked like the original PS5 plates. Dbrand claims that their design makes the PS5 less ugly. It also has vents that they claim will improve the thermals since many owners of the console are afraid it would overheat too quickly.
Dbrand is now selling the Darkplates 2.0 for only $59.05. It will launch sometime in January 2022. They still think SIE will sue them but the difference now is that they have made an original design, which has “no basis to allege infringement.” Yes, they are that confident and it looks like they might actually win.