Friday, June 5th 2015
Thermaltake Draws Flack for Ripping Off Other Brands' Products
Thermaltake, a brand that has been associated with DIY PC for decades, is accused of blatantly copying designs of other [smaller albeit popular] brands' products, with some of the new products it unveiled at Computex 2015. It begins with the Suppressor F51, a case that was launched just a month before Computex, and was widely reviewed by the media. Our readers almost instantly noticed (and we agree) that the Suppressor F51 bears an uncanny resemblance to the Define R5, a pioneering case by Fractal Design. We could excuse similarities to an extant, but it appears that Thermaltake copied even intricate design details.
Legit Reviews compiled a list of other products Thermaltake copied in a similar way. These include its Riing series fans, which resemble Corsair Air Series 120 mm; the Commander FT fan-controller copies some UI design elements from the NZXT Sentry 3; and the most blatant rip-off being the W2 CPU water block, which looks identical to the Swiftech Apogee XL. Perhaps the biggest victim of this episode is CaseLabs. A very small player in the PC case industry, CaseLabs is critically acclaimed, and loved by PC enthusiasts to come up with some of the most original high-end case designs. The company's Merlin SM8 and TH10 cases are copied by Thermaltake into two of its prototype cases exhibited at Computex. These examples alone are class-action bait that, if pursued, could lead to a trade-ban for Thermaltake in markets such as the US and EU.
Source:
LegitReviews
Legit Reviews compiled a list of other products Thermaltake copied in a similar way. These include its Riing series fans, which resemble Corsair Air Series 120 mm; the Commander FT fan-controller copies some UI design elements from the NZXT Sentry 3; and the most blatant rip-off being the W2 CPU water block, which looks identical to the Swiftech Apogee XL. Perhaps the biggest victim of this episode is CaseLabs. A very small player in the PC case industry, CaseLabs is critically acclaimed, and loved by PC enthusiasts to come up with some of the most original high-end case designs. The company's Merlin SM8 and TH10 cases are copied by Thermaltake into two of its prototype cases exhibited at Computex. These examples alone are class-action bait that, if pursued, could lead to a trade-ban for Thermaltake in markets such as the US and EU.
39 Comments on Thermaltake Draws Flack for Ripping Off Other Brands' Products
is pretty bad to hear this… I have never experienced problems with such brand… that’s why I love it and still using it,
oh well
Also, Thermaltake was first (mainstream) case maker that pushed modular design (Core Tower chassis), for example. They are nor better or worse than competition. There are hardly a few innovators in this field (Lian Li, Silverstone and couple of smaller companies), everything else is "borrowed"... :)
"
I’m sure by now, many of you have heard about the controversy around us and Thermaltake. I want to say the amount of support we have received from the industry, professional modders and the community at large has been both incredibly humbling and so very much appreciated! All of you have been great!
When I sat in my office at home 5 years ago and began to sketching out the basic concept behind the M8, I never dreamed we would get to this point. With no marketing budget to work with at all, we reached out to the community to share our vision and found wonderful support for what we were trying to do. We have worked together all this time to produce the best case we can with the resources we have available. It’s been an incredible experience.
This brings us to where we are today. After all the work that went into establishing our brand, it seems unnecessary for a company that is over 100X our size with vast resources felt the need to so closely imitate the appearance of our cases. Love us or not, most people can readily recognize our “look”. I’ve seen people ask “Why does it matter?” “Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, right?”
Well, not really. It dilutes the brand we have worked so hard to build. They would be less and less recognizable as our own. Perhaps more importantly, it creates confusion in the market place. I have heard countless times how we “copied” the 900D. Nothing could be further from the truth, the SMH10 came out long before the 900D, but because Corsair is so dominant in the market place, people get it turned around. BTW, I not saying that Corsair “copied” us, they simply took a general concept and did their own take on it. It is unmistakable as a Corsair product. My concern is that a year from now that same will be said about us and the new “W” series, I know there will eventually be confusion in the marketplace about who did it first.
People have wondered why the cases are more expensive that most. Surely, we must all be driving Ferraris. That would be nice, but no. The materials to go into our cases are several more times more expensive than a typical mass produced product. There are a myriad of small details that most wouldn’t even realize are there, but serve to make the cases more durable and function better than other offerings in the market. We don’t make 10,000 units at a time, so spending 10’s of thousands of dollars (or more) on tooling for each case model would be wildly impractical.
Beyond direct materials and labor, there are many other costs to take into account: Facility and machinery expense, utilities, insurance, taxes, regulatory expenses, customer services, warranty costs, administrative costs, the list goes on… Our goal has always been to produce the best product we were capable of.
I know our products aren’t for everyone and that’s perfectly ok. We don’t aspire to take over the world smile emoticon We are big advocates for choice in the marketplace and don’t want to see anything that would impair that.
Finally, in closing, I want reiterate how much we appreciate all the support we have been given. Honestly, it’s hard not to be emotional about it. It’s been overwhelming in the best possible way. Since there is no way for me to reach out to every individual, please share this post to let the world know how much we appreciate the positive force they have been and continue to inspire us to greater
things.
Ok, now all of you get back to work and show us your next incredible project! grin emoticon
Peace,
Jim Keating
President & CEO
CaseLabs"
That Fractal Define R5 does look like a rip off of my Antec P180 case,.....!!!!
Oh wait you weren't talking about that were you,......?
:)
I hope they get called out and held accountable.
@FreedomEclipse ther you have!
Regards,
For what its worth I see Rosewill ripping off everyone's designs too,....but I think they undercut on price at least,... :)