Thermaltake Draws Flack for Ripping Off Other Brands' Products

[btarunr]

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.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Rowsol]

interesting.... very interesting...

/popcorn

 

[-FOG-]

They must have completely run out of ideas...

 

[HumanSmoke]

They must have completely run out of ideas...

...sometime around 2005 I think.

 

[Chaitanya]

Thermaltake has taken this copy business too far now. Please do read the entire statement from the Case labs vp at legitreview or his Fb lage.

 

[Sp33d Junki3]

The only item they did not copy is the Switech Apogee. That is a licensed by Swiftech.
Think Swiftech should stop dealing with Thermaltake.

 

[Batou1986]

Cheap crap that looks like a good case is still cheap crap.
I have a feeling this will not bode well with enthusiasts but to be honest enthusiasts are not buying Thermaltake garbage to begin with.
Fairly certain they licenced that ABS block from swiftech seeing as how there have already been lawsuits concerning WC block/pump design.

 

[Frick]

I can tell that Shannon dude is annoying just by his writing.

 

[RCoon]

Guess I'll continue to not buy Tt products. Never really felt the need to buy their stuff anyway.

 

[micropage7]

...sometime around 2005 I think.

yeah sad for worldwide brand that just copy and paste then put their name on it

 

[brian111]

"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."

This is a small point, but aren't class action lawsuits generally filed on behalf of individuals against against a company or business (e.g. consumer claims against a defective product)? This would seem to be one company's claims against another if I understand correctly.

 

[MakeDeluxe]

"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."

This is a small point, but aren't class action lawsuits generally filed on behalf of individuals against against a company or business (e.g. consumer claims against a defective product)? This would seem to be one company's claims against another if I understand correctly.

Perhaps it could be considered a class-action lawsuit as ThermalTake has infringed on the copyrights of many companies. I think all of those companies can join in against ThermalTake with one big lawsuit rather than several small ones.

 

[PLAfiller]

Wow....I haven't followed Tt that closely, but this seem to be real. I don't know what has gotten into them. I still use some of their older products and I am pretty happy with them (namely Tt Extreme Spirit II). They are running a slippery slope with these copy-cat games. I hope they take a good note and "lesson learned" approach and stop copying other people's work without permission.

 

[Dicfylac]

I´m wondering about Thermaltake, if they took one year to clone the Fractal Define R5, how many decades they need to clone, lets say a Cooler Master Cosmos II or a Corsair 900D,
I´m telling this because both CM and Corsair are BIG fish, like shark to the "clown fish".
Seriously, there is a endless universe of combinations of dots, lines and planes, you just need to work for it.
What a shame.

 

[NightOfChrist]

"Some people are praising Thermaltake for ripping off CaseLabs as they can’t afford the real products from CaseLabs, but can afford Thermaltake products."

No honor among thieves. It is like you thank and praise software pirates for sharing computer games as you cannot afford to buy the genuine copy but can always pay your internet bill and download those games for free. Or buying an illegal copy of The Witcher 3 for less than 300 yen because you cannot afford the 6,000 yen price tag, despite you really want to play the game so bad.

No wonder companies like that have been around for years. They have fans.

 

[ypsylon]

Sue crap out of these thieves. And after suing is done ban them for life from US and EU markets. Problem solved.

CaseLabs 4 Life!

 

[Hood]

I wondered why their cases were starting to impress me - mostly the Core V and Core X series - I wonder where they stole those ideas? In the past I considered Ttake to be sub-standard crap. Their tin-foil cases, their 13CFM 120mm fans, their fireworks-show PSUs - ahh, the good-old-days! So now, just when we were starting to think Ttake was a company to watch, this happens! Well, at least they're trying. Plagiarism IS the sincerest form of flattery - if you can't do better than the competition, file off the serial numbers and spray-paint the frame. It's been going on for years, just not this blatantly.

 

[AsRock]

Guess I'll continue to not buy Tt products. Never really felt the need to buy their stuff anyway.

Well for me over the years pretty much the same except for when they were doing VRM cooling heat sinks with heat pipes. Other wise i have not seen any thing of theirs i wanted then again i could say the same for Corsairs too.

 

[dj-electric]

I used to use Tt watercooling almost 10 years ago. They were pretty original, pretty cheap and pretty awesome.

This is not the Tt of today

 

[natr0n]

Most of thermaltakes stuff is all relabeled anyways.

knockoff pc parts is nothing new

That is messed up though dude deliberately stole this guys design. Then the asshole from thermaltake disregards it in his reply saying like better airflow etc.

 

[newtekie1]

I don't think I've even bought anything from Thermaltake in years. Their power supplies are either garbage or overpriced, and their cases have been the same.

 

[Uplink10]

I do not know why are you complaining, if the original case was not patented everyone can make one just like it without any infringing. If I made a cube case, would everyone who would made a cube case be copying from me? Or, is cube too simple shape and it has to be more complicated? Who cares if they made the same case, what counts is the quality and the price.

 

[nickbaldwin86]

I do not know why are you complaining, if the original case was not patented everyone can make one just like it without any infringing. If I made a cube case, would everyone who would made a cube case be copying from me? Or, is cube too simple shape and it has to be more complicated? Who cares if they made the same case, what counts is the quality and the price.

your missing the point... but w/e not going to try and fix that.

to answer you very last question... TT cases both cheap and cheap... I have heard rumored costs of both cases and they are just barely cheaper then the original... and I have heard from people that have seen them in person and say they are both cheap in material.

I have NOT and never will do business with TT... something I am proud of

 

[Sasqui]

I don't think I've even bought anything from Thermaltake in years. Their power supplies are either garbage or overpriced, and their cases have been the same.

Made a mistake and bought a Tt reservoir when building my current WC setup. I ended up throwing it away ... I recycled the metal portions

 

[praze]