A UK-based custom PS5 faceplate seller is being threatened with legal actions by Sony, leading to the cancellation of orders and refunds as well as a subsequent rebranding.
Update on plates refunds. If you paid by PayPal you will already have your order cancelled and refund processed. If you paid by card we are processing orders one by one. There are thousands to go through so we please ask for your patience & understanding 🙏
— Customize My Plates (@customizeplates) November 1, 2020
PlateStation5.com, now CustomizeMyPlates.com, had an ingenious idea in mind when it ventures to making and selling bespoke faceplates for the PlayStation 5. The notion being to sell a product that many would love to have for cosmetic reasons.
It’s a selling notion that made its own industry. Much to console owners having an electronic device that deviates superficially to its original form. People love the idea of being unique. Hence, why having a tailor-made console, albeit trivial, makes so appealing for most people.
For the majority of those persons, the idea draws from being able to attach something on their console or peripheral. That is, with the purpose of making it significantly looking distinct. While some are in on it for the design, others go for it for the color or even both.
Not your typical sticker products
But selling merchandise that people can just stick on anywhere and a product that replaces a certain component of a device is not two similar things. Much, in fact, that the idea of selling a custom PS5 faceplate caught Sony’s attention on the same day that the trade is launched.
In an interview by VGC, CustomizeMyPlates tells their side of the story involving a legal dispute with Sony.
Not necessarily a stranger to legalities, the seller claims to have weighed the consequence of their venture beforehand.
“Before we launched, we did our due diligence and were of the opinion, that because Sony only had pending patents on the faceplates, there would be no problem.”
A legal dispute
But it turns out that the company’s notion appears miscalculated. It subsequently resulted in a legal concern with Sony as soon as the platform went live for business.
“But after only a day of our website being live, Sony’s lawyers asked us to change our name (at the time PlateStation5), due to trademark infringements.”
To be fair, even Sony’s legal representatives don’t seem totally sure that there’s a case of infringing involved. However, they do believe there is one and that the company they represent is willing to bring it to court.
With a global market, PlateStation5.com received orders from everywhere and sold unofficial PS5 shells for $39.99 / £32. The product, would it had pushed through, was targeted for release within two weeks following PlayStation 5’s official launch.
Image used courtesy of CustomizeMyPlates