BTW FWIW I voted yes, but I don't see any harm in it.
Look. Rip offs are a huge percent of the world's economy. China for example will make you a copy of anything you like, providing you have the dough.
It's just the way of the world. You can get rip off copies of anything you like, but, IMO unless the original is rather special like the Caselabs case most of the time a rip off will suffice. So let me explain that a little deeper.
I like the look of Beats headphones. I do, and I can't help it. So, basically I own a set of fake clones of most of their product line up. So Beats Solo HD, Beats Studio, Powerbeats in ear, two sets of Tour in ear, and a set of Pro. Oh yes of course, and my fake pill (but I did buy a real pills dude to stand it in !). A few friends of mine have the real deal, and we actually sat down one day and did a comparison of the products. My Studios were crap, sounding nothing like the real thing (even considering the real thing don't sound as good as a real pair of headphones any way).
The others though? well my Solos actually sounded better than the real thing. Quality wise they were identical, both being made out of some shiny red plastic.
The most I paid for anything was £65 for my fake Pill. It's very high quality and I have had it well over a year and it's worked perfectly. We've taken it on four holidays with us.
So why did I buy all of this fake stuff? price. The real ones are ridiculously expensive and you know what? the quality is crap and that's why there are so many fakes out there.
I'm not tarring Caselabs with the same brush believe me as I feel their case (pardon the pun) is very different and a lot more complex. But, the undeniable fact is you can not buy a Caselabs officially in the UK. The only way to import costs $180 or more in shipping and then another £150 in taxes and import fees. That means you are looking at £350 minimum for their base line cheap case.
Being honest here once TTake release that case I will buy it. I wanted Caselabs at the start but could not afford it without cutting the spec, so I will be buying one.
For Caselabs to come out and complain about it is rather silly. The world revolves around fashions and I absolutely 100% assure you that Caselabs did not originally design huge computers that looked like that. Those were around in the late 90s and were super computers.
What I'm saying is this. Caselabs are not completely ground up original. Some of their designs and so on are taken from other things. IE - how many computer cases that will hold your computer parts were designed and made before Caselabs came along?
I recall having a case in the late 90s which was cubed and looked pretty much identical on the outside to one of Caselab's cases.
It happens.
You know? like the dude who designed and built the first microwave in the 80s. Is he crying that you can now buy thousands of different models that all do the same thing? from loads of different companies?
What about the microwave that doubles as a mini oven. Great idea, been done to death by every big manufacturer in the UK.
Carbon fibre body parts and chassis on cars.. Ripped off by every other super car maker.
So as much as this sucks for Caselabs for most of the world it's actually good news. Unless you live in the USA, and let's face it here it won't damage their sales because any one using a Caselabs case isn't trying to count their pennies or save money. The money spent on these PCs is about as stupid as the sizes of the cases. In a good way, of course.
I'll be buying the TTake because Caselabs don't sell to me. Well, not without ripping out my internal organs for the cost of postage and import duties.
Sorry guys, you've had plenty of time to work something out.