Case Labs Vice President calls out Thermaltake for copying Case Lab

Hardware Hub Cases / Chassis
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So the Vice President of Case Labs has called out Thermaltake for copying Case Labs case:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1413341898991146&id=100009460486462&pnref=story

What he wrote:

Fellow enthusiasts and case modders,
For those who know me, you know I am not a person to create drama. Nor am I a person to be dishonest, or try to slander someone out of spite. With that being said I can no longer hold my tongue about Shannon Rob “Case Designer” at Thermaltake. For those of you at Computex you may know what I’m talking about…
Thermaltake has just announced their “new” case line last night, the “new TT premium line W series extreme chassis”. It is more than evident this is a stolen concept. Not only did Shannon clone our Mercury line, with his Core line, but now they have stolen our MAGNUM and Merlin designs as well.
Sit back, here is how the story goes…
Back in July of 2013 we exhibited at PDXLAN 22 with 2 of our Merlin SM8 cases which we gave away (Matt Conwell hooked us up, and I must say he is an awesome person.). At this event people for the first time got to see us with one of our cases in person. We didn’t have a booth, but we got so much good feedback we decided to come back for PDXLAN 23, but this time as an official sponsor of the event. We got a booth and we brought a bunch of different cases to show off including the Mercury case line (S3, S5 and S8). It was at this time we found out Thermaltake was a major sponsor if this event (and have been) and their case designer, Shannon, was in attendance (as he usually is). Shannon was introduced to my dad (CL owner) and I via a mutual friend. Shannon then proceeded to tell us how much he liked our cases, and he was a big fan. He seemed very genuine, and overall a nice person. He started asking us about our cases and said, “Wow I wish our company made cases like this, can I take some pictures to send to our R&D department?” A bit flabbergasted I told him no which he then replied, “Well I guess we will just buy one then.” I was a little put off, but whatever. I shrugged it off, and kept talking to him about the cases. Oh and I almost forgot… Thermaltake did buy one of our cases back in September of the 2013, just 2 months after we showed off the Merlin SM8 for the first time. I guess he wasn’t kidding when he said he would just buy a case…
Next event, PDXLAN 24. We had a Mercury S3 we brought with us for Sapphire. They liked the fact that it was horizontal with a window on the side so they could show off their GPU. Thermaltake, AKA Shannon, gave Sapphire an AIO 240 cooler for the build and helped them build the case at the event. Once the case was up a running, Shannon came over to our booth and shook my dad’s hand. He said, “That was such a great case to build in, nice work!” Well my dad felt very gratified knowing another manufacture was giving him praise for his design. We also brought with us our new prototype, the X2… then this is where it all turned ugly…
PDXLAN 25. Thermaltake announces the Core case line, the X1, X2 and X9 cases. The cases feature a modular design, horizontal mobo cube style, windows on both sides, drop-in radiator mounts, stackable, mITX, mATX and ATX form factors and a ventilation pattern identical to all of our cases. These features ALL are part of the Mercury line which we brought with us just 1 year ago, and what he built in 6 months prior. Funny it takes companies about a year to release new product, right? We knew about the cases before the event, but we kept our cool. My dad even went as far to speak to Shannon and ask him how he was doing. I kept pretty quiet. Shannon told my dad, “The new line was doing very well and hoped that one day he would make cases as good as ours. They were not there yet, but it was his main objective while working there.”
Computex 2015… Shannon was thrilled to announce “My new babies have arrived!” on Facebook. I was fortunate enough to see this late at night so I had plenty to keep me from sleeping well (actually not at all really, yay for coffee!). I also received several notices from people at the event telling me that Thermaltake had ripped us off yet again.
All of these events happened, and I did not make up anything, not a thing. Simply put, Shannon and Thermaltake, you disgust me. We are all for innovation, and welcome new case concepts from other manufactures. We have said this publicly and I’m saying it again. There have been some AMAZGING things to happen to the enthusiast market, and it’s better for everyone. Copying people’s existing concepts and calling them your own stifles innovation and hurts the industry with dull already done designs. We are a small family owned and operated business who make their products in the USA with pride. Anyone can steal designs and have them made overseas for much much less. So do something with our own creativity and concepts or do nothing at all.
Shannon if you read this and I hope you do. The only reason I became friends with you on Facebook was because my dad genuinely believed you were a good guy and that I should give you a chance. That’s why you may have noticed I sent you a friend request after you sent me one. I had deleted your request, and after speaking to my dad I sent you one, and voila, we became “friends”. I feel a bit “high school” adding this part, but I wanted you to know that.
For all who have read this, thank you for taking the time. We have worked tirelessly on our designs and can’t just sit back while people rip us off. I am asking everyone to share this post. Please, it needs to be done or businesses like Thermaltake will continue to taint the industry with rip-off products. To all of you who noticed the stolen concepts and took the time to tell us, thank you your support means the world to us.
Best Regards,
Kevin Keating
CaseLabs Vice President

pictures:

Am I surprised? Nope. I have always respected what Case Labs has done. I like their cases. I'm glad to see Case Labs not take it and call it as they see it. I'll side on Case Lab on this one.

What do you guys think of the news?

Edit: I do not make cases. Nor am I an expert on how cases are made.

Edit: Some outlets are covering this.
Overlock 3d:
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/thermaltake_designs_at_computex_2015_look_familiar/1
They also did a video on it:

Legit Reviews:

Xtremerigs:

My opinion: Honest the evidence looks very compelling. Based on what other articles have written and shown Thermaltake appears to be copying a lot of companies. I would love for someone like Hardware Canucks to investigate the case issue. Outside of cases look similar, but the inside layout can be different.

Edit Statement from Thermaltake's Shannon Robb:

Final Edit where I fall on this issue: I've had sometime to think over this. Do the outside of the products look similar? Sure but the inside could be different. A lot of PC cases on the outside look similar but on the inside they have different features. Do a lot of Thermaltake products look similar to other companies? Sure but their performance and internals could be different. Do I think it's bad that Thermaltake looks similar to Caselabs? Yes but that isn't going to stop me from enjoying Caselabs products. I can still buy from them. They still have their solid reputation. I'm not going to change what I wrote in the past here. I may have overreacted in some parts. I will try to be more calm and logical about this in the future. That is all I have to say on this issue.

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honestly both cases in my opinion have a resemblance to the Coolermaster Stacker cases. I get it that Caselabs is upset, but at the same time, there's so much that you can aesthetically do to a case. before it resembles another case. if they wanted to do something new, they should be focusing on making 90 degree orientation layout cases. those would bring more innovation to the case market. Silverstone can't be the only one making those types of cases.

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@Kat While the Coolermaster Stacker was released in 2005, The Caselabe M8 came in 2012 I believe. I think Caselabs issue isn't the copying so much as the lack of innovation. I personal will be looking into the Thermaltake to see if they innovated at all or if it was just a pure copy. It is true there is only so much you can do with the outside design of the case. The inside is what matters. A good example of this Phanteks, while they do have some original case design it isn't too far off of what is out there. There inside of there cases is pretty great. I don't think this will hurt Caselab too much, if anything it might get more people to look at them and say what's different. It will be interesting to watch and see what happens.

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I agree with @kat, both these cases just look like a box with another box atop it. There's not much you can change about a box with a box atop it to make it crazily different to another box with a box atop it. I don't see how caselabs could justifiably call thermaltake out for making a case that looks like a box with a box atop it just because they used that vague concept too.

Trust me I'm a cat I know a lot about boxes.

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@SpaceCat Have you read what the Vice President wrote on Facebook? I highly recommend you read what he wrote. The pictures only tell a part of the whole story.

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Caselab cases look great, but screw 'em. That's what they get for trying to make people think they should spend $500+ on a case.

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I eat my words. This seems a bit goddamn fishy.

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Well the reason case-labs are so expensive, is because their cases tend to be massive, and they arguably have the most customizability than any other case manufacturer out there. plus they have the best support for water cooling peripherals if that is something you wish to do with a System.

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Totally agree, they make great cases and its expensive to make them that solid and functional.

However, there's a balance between functionality, aesthetics, and cost.

I will never pay $500 for a case. Most people won't. So the market is reflecting that fact and undercutting Caselab. It's inevitable and Caselab knows it.

Ultimately, they are fighting a losing battle trying to make modular rectangles proprietary.

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Nothing new. They've (and others) been copying one another forever. There is only so much variation a box of metal/plastic can have.

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how much is the thermaltake?

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@anarekist I don't know yet. The pricing has not been announced yet.

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Thermaltake posted a video from Computex where they show some more of the case:


The cases are shown at around the 9:18 mark.
It does give a better view of what the layout of the inside of the cases look like but I really need to see the cases without parts before I can give a full judgment on this. I'm still on Caselabs side.

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Let's not forget about

Which is a copy of

Pssst, for those who don't know this block is the Apogee XL by Swiftech, Thermaltake made a knock off of it

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It's Thermaltake . Emphasis on " TAKE" lol

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Agreed. How many cases resemble the R5 for instance? A lot. The CM 652S for instance looks very similar.

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Thermalfake.

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That video is full of cringe.

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And thermal because it looks like they're going to be roasted if someone takes legal action against them for copying their designs.
"I'd like to speak to your R&D team about how this product is so different."
"We maybe don't have our own R&D team."

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Unless Caselabs has a patent on their stuff, they sadly can't really sue Thermaltake because its not illegal to copy something that isn't patented (no patent = no IP to be infringed)