A peripheral company selling custom PS5 faceplates has been forced to cancel all its orders and pull the products from sale, following reported legal action from Sony.
Did those faceplates for 360 actually work "super well" though? I seem to remember them being a thing at console launch, and they were around for the forst year or so, but then they just kind of faded away. If they were really that successful then MS would have kept pumping out new designs and they would have been a thing for the entire life of the console.
But to be fair, they were only the faceplates. The side panels didn't get anything customizable. So they looked weird just having a different faceplate with no matching sides.
Sony should put out some basic designs for its side panels and see where it goes. Jist start with a few colors, and basic designs and if they do well keep it going. I know I would pay for some black or metallic blue side panels. I just really don't like the white panels.
Pretty sure Sony said they have ideas but no definite yes or no answer if they are making custom plates. But if Sony is making them stop then most likely it's another way they are saying yes.
@CorndogBurglar No the 360 had vinyl stickers to go on the sides of the consoles i wrapped my console in wood grain front panel with vinyl wood grain sides
@s2, there were close to 1000 face plates released officially and another 1000+ that were custom. I dont think MS got a cut of every one but the fact there are so many means they werent trying to block others from releasing them.
@corndog, they lasted quite a while. And some are pretty rare and collectable. check them out here: http://www.xboxaddict.com/X...
It looks like those faceplates were customized from existing faceplates (initially produced by Microsoft or authorized channels). What this website was doing was making and selling an item that’s patent pending (will most likely get issued), without Sony’s permission. If you want to sell custom plates, you have to first secure the plate legally, then customize it, then sell it. Or you can get licensed to produce the plates legally and sell them. They did neither.
it might be sony is trying to protect its customers, maybe the faceplates help with cooling or what have you and a different material or slightly different shape might have effects on that. Im pretty sure they will allow 3rd party plates at some point, but maybe they need to be certifieid by Sony first or something alike.
I'd say that's the least of it. Licensing. I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure that the entire console is under patent; at least in regards to consoles. So making covers would require a licensing deal. If I recall the 360 and it's faceplates were all made by MS or licensed as well. Regardless, no surprise.
and someone comparing this to phone case makers. LMFAO. completely different.
Likely has more to do with certifying they'll actually work and not adversely affect their purpose as heat dispersing channels as well. If they're not the right type of plastic, might warp and cause issues.
There's no guarantee the airflow will not mess up if you use a 3rd party faceplate. And worse of all some dumb people will blame Sony if their PS5 get tech issues from using non official faceplates.
Yup, if someone does that they void their warranty.
Just like when I buy a car and jack it up. If I choose to do certain things they void the warranty.
I agree with Sony, but they have to make accessory and peripheral vendors put a certified PS Logo if they want to control this stuff. Don't go and sue someone because you lack a certification program.
"Just like when I buy a car and jack it up. If I choose to do certain things they void the warranty." Dealership would only void the parts that were affected by the modification. They don't just void the entire warranty on the vehicle. Proof being my last 2 cars I modified mine with performance parts and as long as your part didn't affect the malfunctioning part, it would still be covered. Which in that case, you could swap the performance part back to the stock part if you kept it so they cant say it was anything you did. So it's not the same thing. Electronics only void warranties if its physically damaged by accident or if you open the system up which I believe the Void sticker is illegal to enforce in the USA. Here is a quote and link stating so.
https://www.digitaltrends.c... No longer will you have to resign yourself to a life in which you refrain from pulling off stickers that read “warranty void if removed.” As it turns out, these stickers are not only ugly, but in fact deceptive and potentially illegal in the U.S., as per a series of warning letters the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent to six companies. These companies deal in a wide range of industries, the Commission noted, from selling automobiles to cellular devices to video gaming systems — but all say that “consumers must use specified parts or service providers to keep their warranties intact.” And this, the FTC says, is a no-no.
“Unless warrantors provide the parts or services for free or receive a waiver from the FTC, such statements generally are prohibited by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a law that governs consumer product warranties,” the Commission noted. “Similarly, such statements may be deceptive under the FTC Act.”
@esemce So, they designed a console to be opened and cleaned inside and to install an internal nvme. That is a design choice they made. So, if they want to protect the design choice they should have a certification program.
@agnosticgamer Yup, I agree Sony made the decision. And yes someone could just switch them. But they were a bit clueless in thinking that someone would not want to customize the panels. The size of the panels are screaming, "paint or replace me with something very cool"
@StoneyYoshi Well then Sony should apply for the waiver if it is really that important.
Personally, I don't think Sony has any legal rights to sue them. I think it's a hail mary with the hopes they stop the sale. Companies have made 3rd party cases for phones, and mods have been sold forever. Unless they claim to own the shape itself, but I don't that's the case. He could simply slightly alter it and the problem is solved.
Also, I'm mad because I wanted the black one, and I want to make the controller all white if possibly since that black piece pops off easily ...
Dude, they own the design, attachment system. Its part of the cooling solution. Its PS5...newest console on the block. It's Sony, that have very good (expensive) legal team and everything is patented. How can you be so blind? You are talking about 3rd party phone cases that don't have anything with the phone itself. Its a nightmare, for example, replacing fake or original screens with import confiscating and charges by the companies aka Apple.
Yes, those plates are only plastic, but everything about them...even color is protected by Sony.
This is very different from a phone case, you replace a piece of the console here. Even if it is designed to be easily removable, any design or material issue with a none licensed part may damage your console.
Sony has all legal right, they own the design. To get back to the phone case example, not everything is allowed in this front also: no tier supplier is doing a phone case with Apple logo for example, it is legally not allowed.
@DJStotty It would seem like this would be the case, but the Supreme Court actually ruled against this. They aren't reproducing technology that took tons of financing to create. They are putting fancy colors on a cover plate. This kind of thing is completely legal and Sony is just using scare tactics, as companies love to do, especially Nintendo.
Why? They probably want to sell there own first. Or like jairusmonillas above said for all we know the moulding of these 3rd party ones may not be correct and cause heat issues.
@ocelot07 I find it hard to believe that this plastic cover will cause heating issues whatsoever. The plastic could be toxic or any other issue similar to that, but how would it cause heating issues unless the plate blocked the vents? I could be wrong as I am not privy to heat dissipation.
Sony never officially committed to alternate faceplates. The demand is there for sure, so this will happen and you should be happy for this instead of mourning that an obscure none licenced supplier get legally caught.
Imagine you preorder such faceplate and they don’t fix properly on your precious PS5. Sony wants to avoid this, as well as making some money from the feature which we can hardly criticize: they goal is to make money with PS5, and easy faceplate swap is a feature they have introduce.
And nobody's stopping you from 3D printing one, but you can't go around selling them when they're patented.
This is also probably an indicator that Sony will sell their own, properly molded alternative colours, but don't wish to do so quite yet. They'd be the appropriate material too, which is what I would want when it's surrounded by heat vents.
I don't think so. TBH I don't see how this is any diifferent from a phone case or skin, which, afaik, don't require licensing from phone manufacturors. I really don't understand how Sony can sue someone for selling a piece of plastic.
EDIT: People also make custom joy-cons for Switch all the time with no licensing from Nintendo.
I think companies like Madcatz need licenses to make controllers because they actually interface with the device. But these were just pieces of plastic that fit into slots of another device, in a sense. I don't see how Sony has any legal ground here. But of course the company is gonna just cut its losses instead of fight out of fear of legal ramifications and cost.
@Agent As I understand, Sony does not give licensing for third parties to make controllers, which is why they're not sold in stores like gamestop and walmart(at least in the US), but it's not illegal to make them. There are still companies out there making and selling unlicensed controllers on eBay and Amazon with no ramifications from Sony.
Probably because those are additions to the product and this is removing parts and replacing them. Phone manufacturers probably wouldn't be happy with people prising panels off their phones.
I think the analogy is wrong. Mobile case doesn't require de-attaching and attaching the sides of your actual device. The article also states that Sony had pending patents for faceplates. This company knew about it and still decided to went with pre-orders, without any licence agreement from Sony. Sony is just protecting its business, that's all. I'm sure there will be plenty of 3rd party plates available, we just have to give it more time.
Yeah but as Nacho said, your removing parts of the actual system and replacing them with new ones. What if they were made cheaper and when someone moved their console they came off allowing the console to fall and be damaged? Some people would blame Sony. I actually feel that Sony may allow some companies to license and make plates, but probably with very strict guidelines.
@Patrick Replacement plates (front and back) have been sold but third parties since time immemorial, dude. I had a bunch of faceplates for my psp, and backplates for my ds, 3ds, and half of the phones I've owned. If you buy an unlicensed third party part, you are willingly accepting any risks that come with it. Everyone should understand that.
I would totally understand if Sony prohibited their retail partners from carrying third party plates(as they already do with controllers). It's the threat of legal action that has me scratching my head.
@nacho If the patent is pending I suppose that might explain why Sony went after these guys. The existence of third party faceplates would probably complicate approval for their own patent. Tbh I don't think something like this should be patentable in the first place. It's kinda like how Apple patented the shape of the iPhone. It's ridiculous, but that's the legal system I guess.
Then let me clarify not support them... as in purchase hardware or software that do not mean I won't or don't have a history of playing their exclusives.
I guess you can make your own and any color to, if you have a 3D printer. And another thing, why don't this seller sell on the dark web with bit coin as currency. If he did that in the first place he would have never been bothered. I'm, 100% sure no one will even bother to find him especially on the dark web, good luck with that lol. If illegal gun sales and drug sites are still going on for years you think selling PS5 faceplates witll be taken down? LMAO haha. xD
Are you surprised when they don’t even have their own ones out yet
There's no guarantee the airflow will not mess up if you use a 3rd party faceplate. And worse of all some dumb people will blame Sony if their PS5 get tech issues from using non official faceplates.
Sony really sucks for this...
That was obvious. They should have known that especially if Sony didn't make any legal deal with the faceplate makers.
Wouldn't they have to get licensing rights to be able to make accessories that attach directly to another companies product?