Thursday, February 4th 2021

Valve Ordered to Pay 4 Million USD in Damages to Corsair over Steam Controller Patent Infringement

by
Uskompuf
 Discuss (45 Comments)
Valve has recently been ordered to pay 4 million USD in damages after they knowingly infringed on patents owned by Ironburg Inventions with the Steam Controller rear grip button design. Ironburg Inventions is the IP-holding arm of controller manufacturer SCUF who was acquired by Corsair in late 2019. Valve was warned by Ironburg Inventions in 2014 that their Steam Controller infringed on their patent relating to rear-side control surfaces. Valve ignored the warning and went on to produce 1.6 million units before discontinuing the device in 2019. The Jury awarded Ironburg Inventions 4 million USD in damages and found that Valve willfully infringed on Ironberg's patents which opens them up to further litigation. Corsair has published a statement on the case which can be found below.
CorsairCorsair a leading global provider and innovator of high-performance gear for gamers and content creators and its subsidiaries Scuf Gaming and Ironburg Inventions Ltd., announce that on February 1, 2021 in the patent infringement case, Ironburg Inventions Ltd. v. Valve Corp, US District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle the jury unanimously found that Valve Corp infringed Ironburg's 8,641,525 controller patent and awarded Ironburg over $4 million. In addition, the jury unanimously found willful infringement by Valve Corp. The jury verdict of willful infringement is the first step to a potential award of enhanced damages up to the statutory limit of treble damages.
Source: Corsair

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45 Comments on Valve Ordered to Pay 4 Million USD in Damages to Corsair over Steam Controller Patent Infringement

#26
Zareek
I wonder how much money Valve has actually lost now on the Steam Controller. I bet with development, production, lack of demand, now this, Valve has lost a lot of money on that controller. Maybe five years ago, I bought the controller in a fancy case with a Steam Link for maybe $20, brand new. It might have been $25 or $30. The controller was garbage, my son liked it and used it for a while. I never found a compelling use for the Steam Link either.
Posted on Reply
#27
moproblems99
Did steam even make $4 mil selling them? I got mine for like $4.
Posted on Reply
#28
rkinslo
Hello all,

They don't even sell this controller anymore what's the point?
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#29
Slizzo
1d10tDid Nintendo patented their controller as well?



If they did, brace for second lawsuit Gaben :D
I'm sorry, what are you trying to illustrate here? Because all you show in the picture is the Japanese and Other Markets variants of the same controller for the same system. The Super Famicom is what the Super Nintendo is known as in Japan.
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#30
RJARRRPCGP
SlizzoI'm sorry, what are you trying to illustrate here? Because all you show in the picture is the Japanese and Other Markets variants of the same controller for the same system. The Super Famicom is what the Super Nintendo is known as in Japan.
QFT, the controller below, is not an unauthorized reproduction. It's what they look like outside of the JDM.
Posted on Reply
#31
ThrashZone
Hi,
Reminds me of thermaltake
Patient whores,
Guess you can't blame them if a lazy company doesn't patient their designs someone else will and reap the rewards from court rulings plus savings on r&d costs.
Posted on Reply
#32
1d10t
SlizzoI'm sorry, what are you trying to illustrate here? Because all you show in the picture is the Japanese and Other Markets variants of the same controller for the same system. The Super Famicom is what the Super Nintendo is known as in Japan.
SNES controller are first to use 4 button layout XY AB, as this news is all about. Do I need to explain the jokes further?
Posted on Reply
#33
BArms
The patent office in the US is a cruel joke. If you phrase your application just right they'll rubber stamp you a patent on walking/biped locomotion. Use lots of big words that C students in a drab government office can't understand and your chances of success are surprisingly good.
Posted on Reply
#34
DeeJay1001
MusselsThis is dumb, corsair are definitely well known for their PC gaming controllers
Corsair own Scuf. Scuf is probably the most well known brand in aftermarket gaming controllers.
Posted on Reply
#35
R-T-B
DammeronYep. I guess now Corsair will definitely attack MS for their Elite controller, and ask 4 million $ for each pair of paddles on the back. :p
Elite licenses the tech, so nope.
Posted on Reply
#36
jeffj7
rkinsloHello all,

They don't even sell this controller anymore what's the point?
MONEY

Valves got it. they want it
Posted on Reply
#37
Chane
1d10tDid Nintendo patented their controller as well?



If they did, brace for second lawsuit Gaben :D
Nintendo did actually have a patent on the standard D-Pad until 2005. patents.google.com/patent/US4687200.
Posted on Reply
#38
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Vayra86Eh.... context? Losers in the sense of the parties involved in this.... :sleep: Did you seriously think the 'you' was aimed at the people in this topic, now? Or had a weak moment?

Steam lost on its Steambox investment, tried to cheap out on their controllers and now pay another bill for it. 4 million goes to some weird patent and a company nobody sees a real benefit of. 4 million that somehow has to get paid in some way, usually by consumers on other unrelated product.

I'm actually explaining this. Unbelievable.
as a mod, i'm meant to stamp on all comments that are inflammatory, and dont provide any meaningful content.

We sure do miss a lot of things and some is down to interpretation, but ehh... that post certainly contained nothing meaningful. If he'd said that about Intel or Nvidia...
Posted on Reply
#39
InVasMani
Musselsi read MS already paid for that privilege, and that's why the elite controllers are so expensive



It's still dumb. patent law can be really stupid at times.
I don't disagree that patent law can be stupid I mean patented seeds is a crime against nature for starters, but Valve knew exactly what it was doing SCUFF was a small fish in a big pond. Where they miscalculated is SCUFF going down swinging. They didn't anticipate SCUFF being bought out by a more established company that could actually back them financially and depend their IP or perhaps they knew all along it was a possibility and the reward was worth the risk taken either way they played their hand and lost.
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#40
AltCapwn
I just think that those patents troll are blocking innovations. Greed is a curse upon us.
londisteSo that is what they infringed - triggers in the back of the controller operated by middle fingers?
DammeronYep. I guess now Corsair will definitely attack MS for their Elite controller, and ask 4 million $ for each pair of paddles on the back. :p
Does it mean that if they specified in their instruction manual to use the triggers with the picky fingers, they should be chill?
Posted on Reply
#41
Haile Selassie
altcapwnI just think that those patents troll are blocking innovations. Greed is a curse upon us.





Does it mean that if they specified in their instruction manual to use the triggers with the picky fingers, they should be chill?
As stated couple of times in this thread, Microsoft has apparently licensed the technology.
Posted on Reply
#42
Origami
DammeronYep. I guess now Corsair will definitely attack MS for their Elite controller, and ask 4 million $ for each pair of paddles on the back. :p
MS already paied 11 mil for rights
Posted on Reply
#43
Steevo
londisteSo that is what they infringed - triggers in the back of the controller operated by middle fingers?
When they can't compete, they patent troll.

For their next act, a human with a front facing breathing apparatus able to create sounds. They are gonna sue us all......
Posted on Reply
#44
AtotehZ
Musselsi read MS already paid for that privilege, and that's why the elite controllers are so expensive



It's still dumb. patent law can be really stupid at times.
Yes, buying patents and then having people use said patents for free despite warning them about it is dumb.

Let's take a similar scenario. Some dude not affiliated with you suddenly starts to take up a cubicle at your company. He's not paying for rent and he has no agreement with you.
What do you do?
You either kick him to the curb or sue for rent... which is exactly what Corsair did to Valve.
altcapwnI just think that those patents troll are blocking innovations. Greed is a curse upon us.
That's just incorrect. If it was innovation of that part of the controller they wouldn't need to use an existing patent concerning exactly that part. Then they'd innovate.
A patent is not immune to innovation. If you change enough, you're fine.
Posted on Reply
#45
AltCapwn
AtotehZThat's just incorrect. If it was innovation of that part of the controller they wouldn't need to use an existing patent concerning exactly that part. Then they'd innovate.
A patent is not immune to innovation. If you change enough, you're fine.
I see your point. But I was thinkin on a market standpoint; if no patent agreement can be made, or the loyalties are too high, it can block competition, and so, innovation. As a broad example, just like the x86 architecture which most patents are owned by Intel.
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