Thermaltake announced their "new" premium line of W series Extreme Chassis' amid a bit of back lash from some well known names in the modding community as well as Case Labs own Kevin Keating.
 
Here is a pic of the Case Labs TH10 next to the Thermaltake W series competitor:

And another W series case with a Case Labs Merlin SM8 with pedestal:
 

 
I don't know about you, but I can see a bit of a resemblance. In my opinion this is the kind of stuff that kills the case market because it just stagnates the industry with the same old same old instead of forcing yourself to innovate and show a new way of thinking.
 
Here's what Case Lab's Kevin Keating had to say:
 
Fellow enthusiasts and case modders,
For those who know me, you know I am not a person to create drama. Nor am I a person to be dishonest, or try to slander someone out of spite. With that being said I can no longer hold my tongue about Shannon Rob “Case Designer” at Thermaltake. For those of you at Computex you may know what I’m talking about…
Thermaltake has just announced their “new” case line last night, the “new TT premium line W series extreme chassis”. It is more than evident this is a stolen concept. Not only did Shannon clone our Mercury line, with his Core line, but now they have stolen our MAGNUM and Merlin designs as well.
Sit back, here is how the story goes…
 
Back in July of 2013 we exhibited at PDXLAN 22 with 2 of our Merlin SM8 cases which we gave away (Matt Conwell hooked us up, and I must say he is an awesome person.). At this event people for the first time got to see us with one of our cases in person. We didn’t have a booth, but we got so much good feedback we decided to come back for PDXLAN 23, but this time as an official sponsor of the event. We got a booth and we brought a bunch of different cases to show off including the Mercury case line (S3, S5 and S8). It was at this time we found out Thermaltake was a major sponsor if this event (and have been) and their case designer, Shannon, was in attendance (as he usually is). Shannon was introduced to my dad (CL owner) and I via a mutual friend. Shannon then proceeded to tell us how much he liked our cases, and he was a big fan. He seemed very genuine, and overall a nice person. He started asking us about our cases and said, “Wow I wish our company made cases like this, can I take some pictures to send to our R&D department?” A bit flabbergasted I told him no which he then replied, “Well I guess we will just buy one then.” I was a little put off, but whatever. I shrugged it off, and kept talking to him about the cases. Oh and I almost forgot… Thermaltake did buy one of our cases back in September of the 2013, just 2 months after we showed off the Merlin SM8 for the first time. I guess he wasn’t kidding when he said he would just buy a case…
Next event, PDXLAN 24. We had a Mercury S3 we brought with us for Sapphire. They liked the fact that it was horizontal with a window on the side so they could show off their GPU. Thermaltake, AKA Shannon, gave Sapphire an AIO 240 cooler for the build and helped them build the case at the event. Once the case was up a running, Shannon came over to our booth and shook my dad’s hand. He said, “That was such a great case to build in, nice work!” Well my dad felt very gratified knowing another manufacture was giving him praise for his design. We also brought with us our new prototype, the X2… then this is where it all turned ugly…
 
PDXLAN 25. Thermaltake announces the Core case line, the X1, X2 and X9 cases. The cases feature a modular design, horizontal mobo cube style, windows on both sides, drop-in radiator mounts, stackable, mITX, mATX and ATX form factors and a ventilation pattern identical to all of our cases. These features ALL are part of the Mercury line which we brought with us just 1 year ago, and what he built in 6 months prior. Funny it takes companies about a year to release new product, right? We knew about the cases before the event, but we kept our cool. My dad even went as far to speak to Shannon and ask him how he was doing. I kept pretty quiet. Shannon told my dad, “The new line was doing very well and hoped that one day he would make cases as good as ours. They were not there yet, but it was his main objective while working there.”
Computex 2015… Shannon was thrilled to announce “My new babies have arrived!” on Facebook. I was fortunate enough to see this late at night so I had plenty to keep me from sleeping well (actually not at all really, yay for coffee!). I also received several notices from people at the event telling me that Thermaltake had ripped us off yet again.
All of these events happened, and I did not make up anything, not a thing. Simply put, Shannon and Thermaltake, you disgust me. We are all for innovation, and welcome new case concepts from other manufactures. We have said this publicly and I’m saying it again. There have been some AMAZGING things to happen to the enthusiast market, and it’s better for everyone. Copying people’s existing concepts and calling them your own stifles innovation and hurts the industry with dull already done designs. We are a small family owned and operated business who make their products in the USA with pride. Anyone can steal designs and have them made overseas for much much less. So do something with our own creativity and concepts or do nothing at all.
Shannon if you read this and I hope you do. The only reason I became friends with you on Facebook was because my dad genuinely believed you were a good guy and that I should give you a chance. That’s why you may have noticed I sent you a friend request after you sent me one. I had deleted your request, and after speaking to my dad I sent you one, and voila, we became “friends”. I feel a bit “high school” adding this part, but I wanted you to know that.
 
For all who have read this, thank you for taking the time. We have worked tirelessly on our designs and can’t just sit back while people rip us off. I am asking everyone to share this post. Please, it needs to be done or businesses like Thermaltake will continue to taint the industry with rip-off products. To all of you who noticed the stolen concepts and took the time to tell us, thank you your support means the world to us.
 
Best Regards,
Kevin Keating
CaseLabs Vice President

I do really like their Core X9 Case.

drunkie

bcavnaugh
I do really like their Core X9 Case.

 
i think they look cheap. but i think i might end up ordering one because the mobo lays flat. i hate the idea of having 2 video cards hanging off the mobo  in normal cases

They look really cheap. Why not get a caselabs instead?

Didnt thermaltake get in similiar situation a few years ago with a different company? I understand that you can only reinvent the wheel so many times, but corsair, silverstone, and others manage to at least keep them unique and innovative.

I haven't built in the X9 yet, but if they are just copying and Caselabs is responsible for the theoretical Core X1 compatibility with 180x180x2 radiators, then they should be ashamed.  The holes don't align with either of my 180x180 radiators at all.  I returned it in disgust.  I have looked at Caselabs in the past, and the premium just never was justified.  There isn't any coverage of this mythical W series, so I can't really tell how close it is, but I will discuss the X9 that he goes on about.
 
The Core X9 doesn't really look much like anything I can find in the Caselabs Merlin lineup.  Is it a double wide rectangular box?  So are a lot of other cases and many have.  Does it have a bay underneath for radiators/power supplies?  Seen that before in mainstream.  Is it generically black with perforations on all sorts of surfaces?  Yep.  Do they declare that they are used by Top Level Law Enforcement Agencies?  Nope... Well at least TT has that going for them.  Does it arrive unassembled in a flat pack despite paying 400 for it?  Nope, it is all in one ginormous box.  Does it only have room for two PSU?  Yep, it has room for two side-by-side.... wait Caselabs Merlin doesn't have that.  Can it fit 120x4 radiators?  Yep... Again, Merlin doesn't have that, but their Magnum does.  I haven't looked at the "drop-in" radiator mounts on the X9, but if they are like the useless ones in the X1, then they are nothing like the ones that Caselabs Merlin uses which are essentially large flat plates (which is Caselabs answer to everything modular... make a flat plate!).
 
For TT to be able to get away with making that and still stay in the market, I guess they'll have to live without the modding community buying them since they were all buying Caselab cases... That's fine.  I'm sure the "non-modding" community who likes to build computers with water cooling without having to do cutting or building of the case itself will have to do.

Is this why Agent Tiny was hired by Thermaltake, they needed an agent for a secret mission. 
 
 

While I see many similarities, I do see enough vague differences to set them apart.
 
In the end, If I were in the market for a case like that, I would go with the Case Labs.   Yes it's more than double the price, but it's way ahead of the TT case in build and quality.
 

MSim
The only thing we as consumers can do is just boycott companies that do this kind of thing. CaseLab has invoice of where TT ordered the same case they copied. It will be easy to boycott Thermaltake for me.  I don't care for any product they make.

+1 although I switched to Corsair for most of my peripherals.

Again why are people defending case labs? Was there not a movement not too long ago where people complained about "patent trolls" and companies suing???? Let's be honest only so much you can do to a case anyways... I just see this as one big pit of hypocrisy...