Thermaltake 'designs' at Computex 2015 look familiar

The caselabs is pretty blatant, looks like they'd take the case, measure all proportions, and edit some details a little bit.

Fractal copy... well, Fractal's design isn't really what I'd call Fractal, but rather just minimalistic black design. Take a silencio S550 and make it matte from the front, remove the logo, and that's a Fractal, too. Just better that way anyway since you don't get fingerprints.

The CPU block on the video was a bit too close for comfort, too.

Rest of the stuff, I don't know. Haven't heard of SLI-Bridge WC blocks, that seems to be close to only way of doing it, if someone was first to do it, there should be a patent.

Accentuated anti-vibration fan mounting locations are an old thing, and the ring inside makes it look more like a Corsair SP than an Antec. Pretty sure I've seen more fan panels that look more or less the same, only so much you can do with a single slot.
 
TBH It's not the first time this sort of thing has happened the first one that stood out to me was when Gigabyte copied MSi's naming and colour scheme with the gaming 3-5-7-9 and not much was really said about that within the industry, but it is something that SHOULD"NT HAPPEN and Thermaltake have really taken it to the extreme and it's just plain wrong.
I have watched the video and it was really well done and I have voted to my conscience.
Lets just hope that this is a wake up call to all within the industry that this isn't really acceptable, learn from it and move on in a more positive manner.
 
I agree they are ripping off the trade dress from Caselabs and Define.

The other comparisons, fan design, fan hub, waterblock are not as clear cut because you can look at every manufacturer out there and see similar products to those.

Thermaltake should be ashamed of themselves ripping off those cases, especially the Caselabs cases which are very unique and have a very distinct style. They are a company that is growing and something like this could really stunt growth.
 
What Thermaltake did is unforgiveable, i dont care if companies copy certain ideas and improve on them, thats fair game because it drives design and innovation. But these copy and paste jobs are a joke and cannot be excused, EVER.
 
'tis no different to what Thermal'shite have been doing since like..... forever, well as long as I've been involved in the industry anyway.

Their R&D department is probably a photography and marketing department.

Peeps may see the two cases side by side and go yep I'll buy the cheaper one. That is until they look closer - notice the poor build quality, shit materials, more often than not dodgy front io panels, good-for-f*ck-all hdd brackets (anyone remember their Lvl 10 case... .
 
Just saw the article and the video TTL. It's an disgusting day in the PC Case industry when this has happened.

It's obvious that TT have ripped off CL, FD, etc. to produce these cases but not to the same quality as those brands.

I personally have always avoided TT cases as I have never once found their cases good quality. Further to this, TT has had a reputation with previous WC gear "attempts" and it wasn't good then and that hasn't changed from the images you've posted.

I sympathise with CL and FD and I hope something good happens from all this and TT go back to the drawing board and actually think of their own case and WC line again.
 
I can smell a law suit coming maybe from Caselabs or Swifttech or FD or maybe the whole 3 and if those companies join up and sue Thermaltake i will say good hopefully that might teach Thermaltake a lesson.
 
This reminds me of years ago of the Antec Performance Plusview 1000 series that a few companies copied. When you could get the original or a clone version that was cheaper. Sadly, Thermaltake used to make some great stuff and were very creative. I was a user of the Smartfan 2, Dragon Orb 3 (that took a chunk of a finger tip), Volcano 7, Volcano 9 and Volcano 12. Even had one of the Xaser cases (is now my brother's.) I used to consider them a top brand, but haven't really used them much since the socket 939 days. I still remember the hunt for a dual fan 420Watt psu by them, (lasted 6 years too) recently got a TR500 that sits spare.

I do miss the Smartfan 2 design and wished is been put into 12cm and larger, but with motherboards controlling fan speeds based of profiles, there wasn't much point to having a fan with a temp probe.

It's been a long time since I saw a Thermaltake product worth getting excited over. And now it looks like they gave up of their own designs and cloning. Something tells me price isn't going to be lower either.
 
Lots of foul language

TT took other peoples designs and literally mirrored them, All they did was take off either the Fractal or Caselabs branding, Change the position ever so slightly of the door handle by maybe 1 inch and stick their own name plate on it which is despicable.

Also you're probably going to get warned/suspended for your vile language.
 
Last edited:
The copies and clones issue is pretty big with a lot of pros and cons.
Pros:
- Sometimes the original is ridiculously overpriced for the quality/design
- Sometimes the original is not available or affordable at all in a certain region (ever wonder why China has so many clones/copies available?)
- Sometimes the clone/copy fixed flaws with the original design - you see this a lot in the e-cigarette market
- Sometimes the clone/copy is actually a higher quality build then the original - as above
- Sometimes the clone/copy has a better variety of colors/attachments/aesthetics - again as above

Cons:
- Clones/copies can cost the original company a lot in lost sales due to people fraudulently selling the clones/copies as authentic items (this does lose the original company a sale and affects their market name)
- Clones/copies are often inferior in quality compared to the original
- Clones/copies can destroy a market for a product leaving the market full of crappy copies that do no justice what so ever to the original
- Clones/copies can ruin innovation in a market (lost sales = lost revenue = less R&D)
- Clones/copies may fund enterprises whose activities may have a negative effect on your quality of life or against your ethics and morals (eg, organised crime syndicates, terrorist organisations - long stretch but you never know)

Should you buy a clone/copy? My opinion is no, not unless the clone/copy provides a better product then the original...
 
Thermaltake are living up to their name by Taking other companies Thermal designs.

They should have a new motto

"Thermal Take - We take things and make our own"
 
Thermaltake are living up to their name by Taking other companies Thermal designs.

They should have a new motto

"Thermal Take - We take things and make our own"

Ooooooohhhh!!! :cool:

Caselabs, fractal and antec could form up a lawyer team and sue Tt for all the designs. Although I don't think they can stop Tt from making the products but with lawsuits in the US court and the EU court they could stop Tt from selling these in those regions plus make them pay money
 
Although I have never purchased TT product. simply because I don't like their product line.

-snip-
You've not been around for long have you :cool:

RE the Fractal. What about the Nanoxia deep silence?

And the irony? I've actually never seen any one build a Nanoxia.

The Nanoxia was a Fractal R4 you could watercool in. I was expecting someone to bring that up.

Nanoixa spotted a gap in the market which (at the time) was all the super quiet cases had very litte rad support. Its not a copy in the way that these cases are as the interior is quite different and the case itself performed much better thermally than the R4 ever did.
And I have done builds in both cases before so I know what I'm talking about when it comes to the two cases. Sure they look very similar (not sure how you could make a case that is designed for silence look massively different..) but unlike these clones, they are different to the original design in quite a few ways. Why do you think that fractal decided to make the R5 have watercooling support?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Why all the immature language dude? Chill. Slinging words at people like that just means no one will even take your post as a serious comment. People plagiarise all the time, and then the courts get involved. How is that a joke to you?

If we didn't have limitations on this there would be no variety in the world and smaller companies would die out since the larger ones could copy to their hearts content without paying royalties, or buying patents and designs from the innovators themselves. TT approach is wrong, very wrong. I doubt it will hurt caselabs due to their reputation alone of being a high quality manufacturer, but it is still no excuse for doing so.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top