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

[bug]

So that is what they infringed - triggers in the back of the controller operated by middle fingers?

System, apparatus and method for letting kids give the finger to their parents without getting in trouble. :straightface:

 

[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.

 

[moproblems99]

Did steam even make $4 mil selling them? I got mine for like $4.

 

[rkinslo]

Hello all,

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

 

[Slizzo]

Did Nintendo patented their controller as well?

If they did, brace for second lawsuit Gaben

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.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

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.

QFT, the controller below, is not an unauthorized reproduction. It's what they look like outside of the JDM.

 

[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.

 

[1d10t]

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.

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?

 

[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.

 

[DeeJay1001]

This 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.

 

[R-T-B]

Yep. I guess now Corsair will definitely attack MS for their Elite controller, and ask 4 million $ for each pair of paddles on the back.

Elite licenses the tech, so nope.

 

[jeffj7]

Hello all,

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

MONEY

Valves got it. they want it

 

[Chane]

Did Nintendo patented their controller as well?

If they did, brace for second lawsuit Gaben

Nintendo did actually have a patent on the standard D-Pad until 2005. https://patents.google.com/patent/US4687200.

 

[Mussels]

Eh.... context? Losers in the sense of the parties involved in this.... 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...

 

[InVasMani]

i 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.

 

[AltCapwn]

I just think that those patents troll are blocking innovations. Greed is a curse upon us.

So that is what they infringed - triggers in the back of the controller operated by middle fingers?

Yep. I guess now Corsair will definitely attack MS for their Elite controller, and ask 4 million $ for each pair of paddles on the back.

Does it mean that if they specified in their instruction manual to use the triggers with the picky fingers, they should be chill?

 

[Haile Selassie]

I 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.

 

[Origami]

Yep. I guess now Corsair will definitely attack MS for their Elite controller, and ask 4 million $ for each pair of paddles on the back.

MS already paied 11 mil for rights

 

[Steevo]

So 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......

 

[AtotehZ]

i 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.

I 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.

 

[AltCapwn]

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.

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.